Letting the Cat out of the Bag
by RosarioN
Summary: Chris makes a difficult decision, Phoebe is in for a surprise when she meets her man, Paige gets more than she bargained for at her High School reunion, Piper and Leo clash over kids, and all the Halliwells receive for an enormous COMPLETE
1. are we sitting comfortably? So I'll begi

**2011 Authors Note - It has probably been years since anyone read this story, but in response to some confused reviewers - this story is Part II of a Trilogy. The order of which is:**

**Part 1 - Opening Up The Can of Worms**

**Part II - Letting the Cat Out Of the Bag**

**Part III - Spilling the Beans.**

**It is best if you read Opening Up the Can of Worms first.**

This is set sometime mid season 7 (in my screwed up timeline, I have brought the battle of Zanku forward so that it happened instead of the Avatar debacle)

Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Charmed!

**Chapter 1: Are we sitting comfortably? So I'll begin…**

"The past is a different country, they do things differently there". Christopher Perry Halliwell stood in his makeshift bedroom in the attic, the opening lines of L.P Hartley's "The Go-Between" resounding in his head. He'd never really understood what it meant, dismissed it as the bemused ramblings of some old bespectacled British author. That is, until he had come to the past, exactly 18 months ago today. His life here was so far removed from the life he had left in the future, that he really did feel as if he was in a different country, a different continent, a different world. More importantly- he was enjoying it. Christopher Perry was actually happy for the first time in years. There was no more worrying about Wyatt turning evil, no lying to his parents. Just the usual demons fights, nothing new there.

In fact, such was his state of contentment; he was surprised to find himself humming as exited his room and made his way downstairs. He passed the door to his mother's room, finding it ajar, he stuck his head in. He found Piper, half dressed in day wear, half still in her night clothes, attempting to wrangle baby Chris into a clean baby grow, while Wyatt sat orbing soft toys at the back of her head.

"Wyatt!" she exclaimed through gritted teeth as a stuffed Nemo bounced off her.

"Having fun?" Chris enquired.

"Two minutes that's all I ask" the exasperated witch cried. "Two minutes of calm so that I can finish getting dressed and run a brush through my hair, but _someone_ is attention seeking. Where's your father when I need him!"

"You know where dad is, and I think Wyatt just misses him"

Leo was up in elderland, after the fall of Zanku, all elders had been on high alert to try and put the magical world back to right. Leo hadn't wanted to go, it had been Pipers insistence that he go help, something that she was now rapidly coming to regret.

"I know, I could just do without it right now"

"I'll take him, c'mere Wy" Chris summoned.

"Kiss" the little boy orbed into his brothers waiting arms.

"Thank you sweetie, I appreciate it, I'll be down in a minute"

"No probs mum, you know I'll do whatever I can to help you, that's why I'm here"

"Yes I know" she gave him a peck on the cheek. "Now scoot!"

Chris smiled, rested Wyatt on his hip and continued on his way to the kitchen. He arrived on the bottom floor to hear the sounds of a rather animated conversation radiating from the kitchen.

"Paige you have to!" Phoebes voice rang out into the hall way.

"Yes mum you do" Jo chimed in.

"No I don't, tell me where it says that it is illegal not to, am I going to be arrested?" the youngest charmed one countered.

"Hey, what's going on?" Chris entered the room, swapping Wyatt onto his other hip.

"Tell her!" Jo pleaded.

"Tell her what?" Chris moved round the centre island and handed Wyatt to his cousin. "Telepathy is not one of my many powers"

"That she has to go to her high school reunion"

"And I repeat. There is no law that says I have to go"

"Why wouldn't you want to go?"

"Gee lemme think…. Piper went to her high school reunion and got possessed by the essence of slut, and nearly started a bar room bitch fight, _You_ went to your reunion and got possessed by the spirit of youth and helped a killer get set free. Now what reason can I possibly think of for not going…?"

"That's not going to happen to you" Jo reassured her.

"Pff! Plus my reunion is going to be twice as long, hence twice the agony"

"What do you mean?" Chris asked.

"There's some dumb reunion lunch that you can take friends and family to, then there's the actually reunion party in the evening..talk about a slow painful death"

"Paige I've already told you I'll come with you, Jo can orb me back to the manor if anything were to happen to you. It'll be fun, meeting new people, get reacquainted with old friends"

"Yeah, right. Because you haven't got an ulterior motive have you?"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're hoping that this might give you the chance to meet Robert Clune aren't you?"

"I don't know what you're talking about"

"Really? Because to be fair, I think the furniture even knows what you mean. Ever since Chris told you that the love of your life was Robert Clune, you have been hell bent on finding him, so going to this reunion will give you the chance to meet a whole bunch of new people, one of whom could be this dude"

"That's so not true"

"She googled his name the other day" Jo interrupted. "I went to check my emails and when I checked the search history, his name came up"

"What? I am not that obsessed"

"Yes" Piper called as she entered the room "you are..or was it your imaginary twin I caught going through all the local telephone directories?"

"People" Phoebe seethed, slightly embarrassed that her searching had been that obvious "I think we are missing the point here, that is, that Paige should go to her reunion"

"Why wouldn't you want to go?" Piper asked

"Don't you start!..Look I didn't exactly hang round with the greatest bunch of people at high school, they are probably all in jail or junkies, and I don't really want to see them again."

"What about Glen?"

"I haven't seem him since he swanned off into the sunset with that Jessica woman, I don't even know if he's going"

"You won't know unless you go" Phoebe added

"ENOUGH!" Paige stood up "Come on Jo we're going to be late"

"Where are you going?" Phoebe asked

"I'm dropping Jo at her grandparents, and then going to the Dentist. Why? Do you want to come with me? I don't think there are any Roberts who work there, but I could always ask."

"Ha Ha"

"Or you could come to the supermarket with me and Chris" Piper suggested "I think there might be a Bob who works on the deli counter"

"Very funny, the lot of you! Thanks but no thanks, I'm going to stay here and work on my column for this week"

"Well you know where we are if you need us" Chris called as the crowd gathered their belongings and trooped outside

"Have fun y'all" Phoebe drawled as the front door slammed shut.

She sighed, gathering her laptop and her papers from the side, she strolled into the sunroom to begin work. She hadn't minded the banter from her sisters, but some of it had hurt. Was it so wrong for her to want to find love again? To well and truly lay the ghost of Cole to rest, find happiness with another man, someone who unlike Jason, must truly have accepted her witchly powers.

The sound of the back door flying open and foot steps in the kitchen drew her attention. Paige. Phoebe thought, her little sister despite having the ability to orb objects to her, was always forgetting things.

"what did you forget?" she called, making her way back toward the kitchen, to help Paige find whatever it was that she had misplaced, most likely her car keys. She pushed the door open, looked up and froze on the spot. Cole Turner, dressed in black, a wild look in his eyes, and sporting a 5 o'clock shadow, stood brazenly by the centre island.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"dammit!" Piper cursed as she trapped her fingers in the buckle in her attempt to strap baby Chris into his car seat.

"Let me" Chris flicked his wrist and the buckle flew into the holder.

"Personal gain" Piper admonished, but she didn't really mean it.

"well they owe us a few" Chris settled Wyatt into his seat, Piper watching him closely.

" You don't have to come with us Chris, it's only the supermarket"

"I don't mind, I like spending time with you" he replied, instantly regretting it when he caught the look on his mothers face. It was the taboo subject, always avoided yet still present in the back of his mind: her death. He kept wondering, was she still alive in the changed future? was it merely Wyatt turning evil that had unleashed the chain of events leading to her death? Or was her destiny a separate entity? If so Wyatt could be elected pope and she would still die within weeks of Chris'14th Birthday. These were the unspoken questions, to which he had no answers.

"Still, you should be out and about, hanging out with your friends"

"I don't have any friends in this timeline remember"

"Well, you..ARRRRRRRRR" Piper screamed and threw herself onto the back seat of the car as a loud boom echoed down the street. Chris jerked his head up, a car had back fired, 5 houses away.

"Mom, it's okay it was just a car"

He looked at her pale and shaking on the back seat, hugging Wyatt and baby him close to her.

"Oh" She began to laugh nervously at her overreaction. "Oh right, shall we go?"

Chris watched her as she got out and walked round to the drivers side of the car, still visably shaking but trying to hid it. He frowned, she'd been rather jumpy lately, a little highly strung, but he had put that down to hormones and her not sleeping very well. Getting into the passenger seat he made up his mind to keep a closer eye than usual on her.

Ntocing him watching her, Piper looked at him "I'm fine, honestly" with that she put her foot down and they sped away.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Phoebe was rendered temporarily speechless-if some one had paid her millions of dollars to speak at that moment she really couldn't have uttered a word.

Cole took a tentative step forward and deposited a pile of blankets on the table. So good so far he thought. Just Phoebe on her own, this was working out better than planned, he had imagined that he might have had to cause a diversion in order to get rid of Piper and Paige, but they didn't appear to be near.

"What are you doing here?" she stuttered, finally regaining her voice.

"Hello to you too" the half demon replied, stalling as he wondered how best to explain his current predicament.

"Don't get funny with me Cole, you're supposed to be dead, we vanquished you, and what is it now? Twice nearly 3 times?"

"You know me, never stay dead for long" he quipped before his voice suddenly took on a serious tone. "You have to help me.."

"What? You shimmer in here after 4 years of being dead, give me the fright of my life, and suddenly I have to help you? What is this?" Phoebe was determined, every time he came back into her life had had won her over somehow, but oh no, she was stronger this time; she would not allow herself to be manipulated again.

"You don't understand"

"Damm right I don't"

"I don't have time to explain right now"

"Well you see Cole, that's where you're going wrong, if you want my help, and I can't possibly think why you would, you need to start explaining pronto"

"Phoebe!"

His voice was so forceful that just for the tiniest fraction of a second she felt something that she had never felt before when with him, not even when he was possessed by the Source, she felt: fear.

"A demon attacked, and a friend of mine was injured "Cole offered by way of an explanation "he was poisoned by a cursed sword, and we need an antidote."

"How does this affect me? Surely you are as capable as anyone of mixing together a potion"

"I need your help because..." He took a deep breath, knowing that she was not going to like what was coming next. "The antidote required needs the blood of a charmed one to work"

"What? No, No, No!"

"Hear me out"

"Well, if we suspend reality for a second and forget all that you have done to hurt me and my sisters, all the lives you have ruined, the damage you have inflicted, the pain you have put me through…if we pretend that I have temporarily lost my mind and agreed to help my demon of an ex-husband who has been missing assumed dead for the past 4 years…How do I even know which demon this is? You could be making this all up…. No! The blood of a charmed one? Do you know what kind of danger could be brought about by the blood of a charmed one getting into the wrong hands, how do I know you won't take the blood and sell it to the highest bidder?"

"It's the Kyriad Demon and I'll mix the antidote myself here in front of you"

"The Kyriad demon? I'll have to and check the book of shadows first before I think about.."

"We don't have time, an innocent could lose his life"

There was an urgent almost begging tone in his voice, something that Phoebe had never seen before, a pleading look in his eyes. She almost gave in, except almost wasn't enough, the image of the man she loved, proclaiming to be the source of all evil flashed before her eyes.

"An innocent? I don't think anyone can be that _innocent_ if they are hanging around with _you_ Cole"

Cole stepped over to the table and moved the pile of blankets to reveal a young boy, around Wyatts age, dark hair and pale skinned, his eyes shut, his breathing slow and heavy as if in a deep sleep.

"It's a little boy Phoebe, just a little boy" the pleading note returned to his voice.

"I..." _be strong_ her inner voice was saying_, he's deceived you in the past, it could be a trick._

Cole began to panic, this wasn't as easy as anticipated, there was only one thing left for it: emotional black mail.

"How would you feel if it was Wyatt?"

"That is below the belt, even for you" Her eyes flashed with anger. "You know that my sisters and I would do anything and everything to prevent him coming to harm"

"So why not for him" Cole pointed to the sleeping child. "He's just a little boy too"

"How do I know that? How do I know that this isn't some kind of spell that we give him the antidote and he turns into a 6ft demon who then proceeds to attack me?"

"You know, because it's me, you know because deep down you trust that I'm telling the truth."

"Trust you. I couldn't trust you as far as I could throw you!"

It was an empty gesture, she was beginning to weaken, he could tell, as an empath, the middle sister was more in touch with her emotions than the other, and she wouldn't

stand to see a child suffer, even if that child was associated with him.

"I'm begging you"

_Begging you_. The words unsettled Phoebe. Cole Turner did not beg. Cole Turner, the mighty Balthazar, one time Source of All Evil, and powerful DA, demanded, he asked, cajoled, deceived, killed and fought people. Begging is what people who are desperate do, and Cole was not that kind of person, he had too much power. She looked up, met his gaze properly for the first time since he had reappeared. There was a certain sense of vulnerability in his eyes.

"Alright. I'll help" as usual he mouth was one step ahead of her brain.

Cole smiled, he knew it, he knew he would win her over; patience was one of the few virtues he did possess.

"But if I find out that this is all a trick then, I will not stop until I have vanquished your sorry ass again."

"Good" He replied, a feeling of relief washing over was all going to plan. "I'll show you what to do."

XXXXXXX


	2. Oh what a tangled web we weave

**Chapter 2: 'Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive'**

A/N: Sorry it's a bit short, longer next time…comments appreciated!

They worked in silence for several minutes, Phoebe diligently chopping the herbs according to Cole's Instructions, Cole stirring them into a giant pot, mixing in a few drops of Phoebe's blood, his eyes darting toward the door occasionally as if he were waiting for someone.

"Expecting company are we?" Phoebe asked. "You don't have to worry, the others won't be back for a while yet."

"It's not that" Cole glanced toward the door again "I didn't get chance to vanquish the guy who did it, he'll probably come back to finish the job."

"Vanquishing one of your fellow demons? That's not very sporting now is it?"

"Things change"

"How very philosophical of you"

"Don't be sarcastic Phoebe, it doesn't suit you."

"And being chivalrous, doesn't suit you, so what gives?"

"Finished" Cole declared, side stepping her question. He decanted a little of the potion into a tumbler. Leaning over the table he began to shake the little boy softly. "Come on superman, I need you to wake up for me"

"Huh?" the little boy opened his eyes slowly. "Where am I?"

"Don't talk big guy, just drink this for me"

"No, Daddy, I don't wanna,"

_Daddy?_ Phoebe looked between Cole and the child and back again.

Cole could feel her eyes on him, but chose to ignore her." Please, just for me"

"You said...you said we could go and visit mummy"

"And we will, but I need you to drink this first"

"And then we can go see mummy?"

"And then we can go see mummy, just like I said"

"Promise?"

"Promise!"

"'kay"

The boy drank the crimson liquid slowly, screwing his face up at the bitter taste. He handed the empty tumbler back to his father. "Done"

"Do you feel better?"

"A little"

"Good. I just need you to take a little nap for me ok? It will make the medicine work better"

"But mummy..."

"Mummy will still be waiting; she's not going any where I promise."

"Alright" the Boy snuggled back down into the blankets and closed his eyes. Cole remained there, stroking his hair until the breathing became slower and slower and soon he had drifted back to sleep.

"He's your son?" It was a statement not a question.

"Yes" Cole replied simply, preparing himself for the barrage of questions that were bound to follow, and how best to answer them without giving too much away.

"Huh, you didn't waste much time then did you?"

"What?" Of all the opening lines he had expected, this was not one of them.

"Get kind of lonely in the wasteland did you? Needed someone to keep that cold heart of your's warm? Or is that you have a girl in every port? Or in your case, every spiritual plane?"

"You've really lost me"

"Come on Cole, don't play the innocent, I'm not deaf you know, or stupid, contrary to popular belief. I much doubt that he was an immaculate conception"

"I seriously don't know..."

"His mother" Phoebe enunciated each word "the woman who you were on your way to visit when you got ambushed by the demon, Look at him, he's Wyatts age, which means you soon got over loosing me, quick enough to get some bit of fluff, knocked up within months of our divorce."

"Oh" It suddenly dawned on Cole, Phoebe was _jealous_.

"Do you love her?"

"Who?" _careful, careful, ice.very.thin.skating.on._

"You know who. The mother of your son"

"You don't want to know"

"Yes I do"

_God she could be so stubborn on times, too stubborn for her own good._

"Yes" a look of sadness flashed across her face, and Cole hated himself for answering. This was _not_ why he had come here. He had not wanted to upset her.

"More than me"

"Look Phoebe, I… "There was an underlying tone of pity in his voice. However this served to infuriate Phoebe more, how dare he? how dare he pity her? If he could move on with his life, find some other woman and have a child then, so could she! She would show him!

"Well for your information I have a new man in my life too and it's going great thank you very much" The desperate need to show Cole that she was perfectly happy in her life without him meant that the lies were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

"Ha" Cole smirked, relieved to have momentarily moved the conversation away from him. "Does this poor sucker have a name?"

"Yes of course, and he's not a sucker, he's the love of my life, I've never felt this way about anyone before, not even _you_"

"Touché, but please, do enlighten me so I can pass on my condolences, that is if he is real of course"

"Alright! If you must know, his name is Robert Clune..happy now?"

Cole froze "you're lying"

"No I am not" Phoebe was indignant

"_yes you are_"

"No I am not" she repeated. There was no way on earth she would back down, and admit that she hadn't met the man yet, especially not in front of Cole of all people. Besides Chris had said himself that her and Robert were destined to be together, it was merely a technicality, a little white lie so to speak.

"you always were a terrible liar Phoebe"

"For god sakes Cole, why is it so hard for you to believe that I might actually have found another man to love apart from you? You found someone else evidently, so why not me"

A smile flickered across Coles face, disappearing as quickly as it came." Robert Clune" he said slowly "ROBERT Clune"

"Yes, Cole, well done! You can remember his name! now can we drop it?" Phoebe wanted to change the conversation before she got herself tangled into a web of lies that it would be difficult to escape from.

"No, not until I prove that you're making it up"

"OK then, if this is going to give you a little kick, why do you think I am making it up? What evidence could you possibly have?" Calling his bluff, was a gamble but it was all Phoebe had left.

The smile returned. "Oh Phoebe, this would be so much easier if you would just admit that you were wrong," He quoted.

"COLE!"

"Do you really want me to _spell_ it out for you?"

"Yes, why don't you just do that?"

"Fine, I will" Cole looked around the kitchen for a piece of paper and a pen, any kind of writing implement. Finding none to be within reach he stalked over to the fridge and began rearranging the alphabet magnets. "Is this how you spell it? R-O-B-E-R-T -C-L-U-N-E"

"Yes" Phoebe was exasperated.

"And you really want to know, how I know this boyfriend of yours doesn't exist..."

"Yes Cole, if it will shut you up, I _really really_ want to know"

Phoebe watched as her ex-husband took a step back from the fridge, flicked his hand and the alphabet letters quickly rearranged themselves, so that they were now reading something all together different:

"COLE B. TURNER"

He looked at her, pulling his face into a mock frown "dear me Phoebe, didn't Grams ever tell you that it's wrong to lie?"

TBC


	3. Trouble and Strife

A/N: Sorry if this seems a little slow/ one dimensional, all the characters will get their fare share of the lime light soon!

**Chapter 3: Trouble and Strife**

"You,..I.., it's a trick" Phoebe babbled, not quite believing what she had just seen.

"you think I wouldn't recognise an anagram of my own name? An anagram I invented no less"

"You invented..."

"Well how else am I supposed to live in the mortal world, when everyone else in San Francisco believes that Cole Turner is dead or missing at the very least, corrupted, a bit weird.. …"

"You're living in _San Francisco?_…" Phoebe's anger abated slightly as her natural curiosity took over.

Dam him and his verbal diarrhoea, he wasn't supposed to have revealed that much. "Um..Yes" he was almost hesitant.

"Then how did you..?"

"..I rejoin the world of the living? See now that's a very interesting story, one that I would really love to tell, alas, I " Cole paused, his eyes darted round the room, Phoebe moved to speak, but he held his hand up as if to call for silence. " I can sense him.." he whispered.

"Who?"

"The demon who did this, I can sense him near, stay here" He instructed "and don't let him out of your sight"

"Cole, wait, you…" Phoebe protested, but it was too late, he had already shimmered out.

XXX

Down town, Paige was not having a good day. The list of things going wrong was rapidly heading toward double figures and it wasn't even 11 am. First off had been the arrival of the stupid invitation to her stupid high school reunion. Secondly she had been late 5 minutes late dropping Jo off at her Grandparents retirement home, which had not only earned her a lecture on the importance of punctuality, making her feel like a naughty school girl, but she had also realised too late that low slung hipster jeans, stiletto healed boots and a satin camisole was not deemed, appropriate responsible parent clothing, a fact that was reinforced by the grandmother implying that she looked like a tramp. Finally (for the moment at least) the dentist had told her she needed x-rays and a filling, so now she could not feel the left hand side of her mouth, and was consequently holding a tissue up to her face to mop up the excess drool.

Rummaging in her bag for a new tissue as she power walked down the street, she felt her self collide into another person.

"I'm sorry" she muttered, looking up, to find her self face to face with none other than Glen.

"Paige!" he exclaimed, they both rushed forward as if to hug, then at the same time seemed to remember what happened the last time that they meet and ended up giving each other an awkward pat on the back.

"Good to see you!"

"And you! but wait shouldn't you be half way up a hill in outer Mongolia or something?"

"Been there, climbed that, settled back into a regular ish kind of life"

"Right, Right, so how's Jessica?"

"She's, uh, good" He replied, a distinct lack of enthusiasm in his voice. "How are you? Still living over on Prescott Street?"

"I'm fine, yep, still with the Sisters, some pretty crazy changes since we last met, hey do you want to go for a coffee and catch up?"

"I can't, I've got to go meet my dad, and then drive back to Tahoe, that's where I'm based now"

"Oh" she couldn't help feeling a little disappointed.

"But I'll be back for this stupid reunion thing in a couple of weeks though, you going?"

"Sure, wouldn't miss it for the world!"

"Great, I'll see you then"

"Cool, see you then.."

Paige watched has he strolled down the street and was gradually swallowed up by the crowd,… perhaps things were looking up….

XXXX

Phoebe sat at her laptop, she had written precisely 3 words in the past 45 minutes since Cole had shimmered out. She glanced over at the sofa, where she had moved the little boy who was still fast asleep. He was definitely his father's son, they shared the same jaw line, the same dark hair. But who was his mother? Which woman had managed to capture Cole's heart?

The front door flew open and voices could be heard coming from the hall way.

"Mom, seriously you've taken to driving like an old woman" Chris called as he made his way toward the kitchen, laden down with shopping bags. "You should of seen her" Chris turned to Phoebe who had now entered the room "she was.." His voice trailed off, seeing the look in his aunt's eye. "What?"

"You" she seethed, "why the hell didn't you tell me?"

"Tell you what?" That your ass looks big in that skirt, that you get a promotion at work soon, that I forgot to tape desperate housewives for you when I said I would…

"Who _he_ really was!" She shouted, "Why on earth didn't you warn me?"

"Again, who are you talking about? There are like millions of guys in San Francisco"

"Robert Clune" Phoebe screeched "or should I say Cole Turner!"

"Oh" _oops,_ he really didn't think she would react that badly.

"Yes, 'oh' did it just slip your mind to mention who he really was?"

"I didn't think you would be too receptive to the idea if I told you the whole truth..besides you're not supposed to meet him yet, it's too soon"

"Gee, well I'm sorry I screwed up the timeline, and yes, you're dam right I wouldn't have been too receptive, after everything he put me through..i can't believe you didn't tell me"

"It's better to err on the side of caution….." Piper, pushing the boys finally made it to the kitchen. "Hey" she called upon hearing the raised voices, and noticing Phoebe and Chris in supposed battle stance. "If any one is going to shout at one of my children it's going to be me, now what gives?"

Ordinarily Chris would have taken the time to point out that he was actually a legal adult, therefore couldn't really be justified as being grouped together with Wyatt and Baby him in the term 'my children', but right now he needed all the help he could get as he had never seen aunt Phoebe look that pissed before. Well, apart from the time he, Wyatt and their cousin Rosie had decided to play Cowboys and Indians and had used Phoebe's best Ruby and Millie make-up as native American war paint..yeah she had been really pissed that day.

"I met Robert Clune" Phoebe explained.

"And? Surely you should be happy about that"

"Oh I would have been, if it weren't for the fact that Robert Clune is actually Cole, something that your_ son_, neglected to tell me"

"Wait a minute, are you saying that Cole Turner was here, in this house?"

"Yes, he.."

"You invited a demon into our house? What's the matter with you Phoebe? We fight evil everyday, demons drop by unexpectedly, Danger is a constant factor in our lives and you want to add to that by inviting a known demon into our home?"

"I didn't invite him, he just shimmered in.."

Piper wasn't listening, as she had just caught sight of the empty potion viles and the pot waiting by the sink ready to be washed up.

"What's all this?" she continued " _have you been mixing potions with Cole_? Are you out of your mind?"

"If you would just stop ranting and let me explain, its not how it seems.."

"Really? You could have fooled me,"

"He needed our help"

"Help? My ass did he, just another ploy no doubt.."

"It was for his son"

"His son?" This momentarily silenced Piper, but not for long. "what son?"

"that son" Phoebe pointed toward the sun room, Piper and Chris both craned their necks to see the little boy, still fast asleep.

"Did you know anything about a son" Piper turned to Chris.

"Nope" He shrugged, "you just had the 3 girls in my future"

"Right.well, forgetting about that how did he need your help"

"He needed the blood of a charmed one to add to the antidote for his son, he got attacked by the Kyriad Demon"

"Upper or lower level?"

"what?"

"The Kyriad demon, upper or lower level?"

"I don't know" Phoebe's voice was barely a whisper.

"You gave your blood to Cole to help with some potion, without even Id-ing the demon" Piper exploded "Are you insane or just stupid?"

"Mom, calm down" Chris tried to jump in.

"No, I will not calm down, Phoebe just put all our lives in danger with her idiocy"

"I was going to check, but there wasn't time..and Cole seemed really genuine, I believed him"

"Every time Phoebe, Every bloody time" Piper spun on her heal.

"Where are you going?"

"To the book of shadows! To do what you should have done in the first place"

"Mom..i really think.." Chris began

"You take your brothers to magic school" Piper ordered, ignoring his attempt to reason with her " Who knows what kind of danger Phoebe has just exposed us all to"

Alone in the kitchen once again, Phoebe sighed. Piper had just made her feel like a naughty school girl for no reason. She didn't seem to understand what Phoebe had been telling her, If Piper could if seen Cole, surely she too would have noticed the sincerity in his eyes. She crept into the sunroom to check on the boy again. Still asleep.

A swooshing noise came from behind her, she turned to see Cole, in even more disarray than before, wiping the sweat from his brow.

"Did you catch him?" she asked.

"yeah, but he's part of a tribe, the others will probably come after me too"

A thunder of foot steps up above indicated that Piper was on her way back from the attic.

"Go!" Phoebe hissed. "If Piper gets back down here and sees you she will blow your ass up quicker than you can say 'the source of all evil'"

"Thank you!" Cole actually sounded genuine, he scooped the boy up, hugging him close to his chest, he took one last long look at Phoebe before they both shimmered out.

Almost instantly Piper came back down the stairs.

"Well?" Phoebe asked, "did you look it up? Was it the Kyriad Demon?"

"I looked it up all right" The eldest Charmed one seemed kind of pale.

"and? It said it needed the blood of a charmed one?"

"Sort of"

"What do you mean sort of?"

"Well in this instance, theoretically yes, it was the blood of a charmed one that was needed, in other circumstances, it wouldn't be …"

"I've had enough of anagrams and riddles for one day! A little clarity, a little clarity"

"It says" Piper took a deep breath. "The antidote requires the blood of the child's mother……"

XXX


	4. Gone but not Forgotten

Disclaimer- I don't own anyone or anything to do with charmed.

Chapter 4: Gone but not forgotten.

They scried for him of course. They tried summoning, blood to blood, to call a lost witch. None of it worked. Even Leo was ordered to return from Elder land, yet his pearls of wisdom amounted to "it must be a really advanced cloaking spell"

"Gee you think?" had been Piper's response "I think we kind of came up with that all by ourselves"

She would have continued if Phoebe hadn't of dashed to the bathroom to physically sick for the third time that day.

"It's all the crying" Paige had explained, "It really upsets your insides. I felt the same when I found out that Jo was still alive."

"But seriously, what I don't understand is how the child came to exist in the first place, when we vanquished it." Piper asked Leo when they were finally alone together that night.

"To be honest I have about as much of an idea as you do, apart from the fact that it was obviously very powerful magic at play" Leo admitted." The only person who can tell us is Cole."

"We need to find him, them, Phoebe's been tormenting herself mentally and physically since she found out, and she can't go on like this"

"We will find them, eventually, I promise"

"That's what I love about you Leo, you're always so optimistic"

"Someone has to be" He wrapped his arms round her. "Anyway, how have the boys been? Have I missed anything?"

"Oh they're fine, well two of them are at least, I'm a little worried about Chris though"

"Why? Has that nappy rash come back again?"

"What? He's 22, I don't think he is suffering from.." She paused noticing the look that Leo was giving her. "Oh you meant the Baby!..Right, no, this is uh, Big Chris I'm talking about"

"What's wrong?"

"I'm just worried that he's a little lonely in this timeline. I mean he doesn't seem to have any friends, at first I chalked it up to the fact that he was spending all his time trying to discover who turned Wyatt evil, and now, he spends all his time helping me or looking after his brothers"

"His _brothers_? How many children do we have?"

"Oh, you know what I mean! Every time I ask him if he's ok, he claims he enjoys helping me and that he doesn't mind. But I don't want him to feel as if we're a burden,"

"Perhaps it's time"

"Time?"

"That he went back to the future"

"I'm not sure he's ready for that yet"

"He's not ready? Or you're not ready?"

"Both! I'm just used to having him around"

"I know, but as a parent you have to do what's best for your children, even though it's hard"

"I hate it when you're right!"

"Funny, I quite like it"

"I'll try and talk to him"

"Perhaps I should stay down here a while"

"No, the magical world needs you more at the moment, I'll be fine"

"The clean up will be over soon, and then I'll be back again"

"Guess I'd better make the most of it when you're here"

"You betcha" Leo agreed leaning in for a kiss, Piper responded, it became longer and more passionate until suddenly Piper drew back.

"Do you want a hot drink? I think I'm going to make a warm milk"

"Do I want a _what_? Are you telling me that you don't want to, errr,…_cuddle_"

"No, Yes, No, I mean, I don't think it would be a good idea right now"

"Why not?"

"Well, we don't know where it might lead"

"I know _exactly_ where it might lead"

"I mean if we aren't careful there could be a 'result' to our actions"

"What are you talking about?"

"I just don't want to Okay" Piper shouted, with that she turned on her heel and walked out the door, leaving an extremely confused Leo to wonder what was bugging his wife.

XXX

2 weeks later and there was still not a sight nor sound of Cole and his son. Phoebe was operating on autopilot, going through all the motions such as going to work, eating sleeping, yet being part of her own world. Her sisters had tried everything to rouse her out of it, but to no avail, as each time she was coaxed out of her shell, she would catch sight of one of her nephews or her niece and be reminded of what she was missing.

Now the day of Paige's reunion had arrived, and Phoebe had had to be, cajoled and ultimately bribed to attend the family luncheon that she had been so desperate to attend just a few weeks ago. .

"Do I look ok?" Paige asked her daughter and eldest sisters as they lined up in the hallway while Phoebe unenthusiastically located her shoes.

"I thought you weren't bothered what you looked like as you weren't bothered about this reunion?" Piper asked.

"Well if I'm going I may as well look darn good." Came the reply.

"Mum!"

"What?"

"Anyway" Piper interrupted. "I'm glad that you're going, Phoebe needs something to take her mind off things and it also means that I might finally have the chance to grab Chris on his own and talk to him."

"About what?" Paige enquired.

"Ready" Phoebe thudded down the stairs.

"Tell you later" Piper practically pushed them out the door. "I'll see you later, and Paige? _Enjoy yourself_."

Piper smiled, shutting the door behind them. Strolling into the kitchen she found Chris, a glum expression on his face, nursing a mug of coffee.

"Mum" Chris glanced up.

"Chris. You ok?"

"Peachy" he sounded anything but.

"Of course"

"Are you up to anything?"

"No"

"Good, because I need to have a talk" Piper attempted to sound neutral.

"Well as it happens, so do I" Chris replied.

XXX

Across town on the football pitch of South Bay High School, Paige stood nervously tugging on her name badge as her fellow class mates and their families milled around randomly picking at the luncheon Buffet.

"Will you stop it?" Phoebe exclaimed. "Jeez Paige you're making _me_ nervous"

"Mum, you look fine honestly" Jo added.

"Thank you sweetie, look I want you to remember, whatever you may hear about me today, about some of the things I did….I just want you to know that it's not big and it's not clever, to drink and.."

"Mum! I'm not about to go off the rails"

"Well you know, I worry that..."

"Paige! Paige Matthews!" a voice behind her called.

Paige turned round slowly; the woman behind her was short, very thin, with more than a few around her eyes. Her face was worn, looking much older than her 28 years.

"Anna? Anna di Marco?" Paige could barley believe that this was one of her former best friends and confidantes. "Look at you! You look" She paused trying to think of an appropriate adjective "well"

"Old you mean!"

"No. I didn't….how are you?"

"I'm good, I've been clean and sober for almost 3 years now"

"That's brilliant"

"Yeah. Better late than never. I suppose, got a steady job and everything. How about you?"

"I'm good, sorry I'm being so rude, this is my long lost sister Phoebe"

"Hi nice to meat you" The two women exchanged pleasantries.

"And this is my daughter Jo"

"Hi" Jo stuttered shyly.

"Didn't she?. you know, err.?" Anna looked confused.

"Long story" Paige replied, smiling.

XXX

Back at the manor Piper and an increasingly gloomy looking Chris, sat in silence. For someone who claimed he wanted to talk, Chris had been odly mute. She had asked him 3 times if he was ok, and 3 times he had insisted that he was fine, before falling back into silence again. Piper was determined to get to the bottom of it..

"Chris, you may be nearly twice my height, with facial hair and legally allowed to drink and vote, but you are still my little boy, and I can tell when something is not right. Now out with it" She began.

"Mom, I've been thinking..." he mumbled.

"I mean when one of your brothers have a problem they cry, in some way's that's easier, because at least I can fix it," his mother rambled on.

"My brothers?"

"Oh you know what I mean, Wyatt and baby you"

"That's what I wanted to talk about, well, part of it anyway."

"What?"

"That you seem to be classing baby me and me as two separate people"

"It's hard" the eldest charmed one admitted. " some times I find it difficult to equate that you and he are the same person, that's all. Is that so wrong?"

"No, in fact it may make things easier"

"Easier? Care to elaborate?"

"No, but, yes.."

"Chris I'm growing old here, whatever it is, just tell me"

Silence.

"Ok, if you're not going to say anything then can I say something? your father and I have been talking, and there's no easy way to put this, but for your own sake, we think that.."

"Mommy, I've been thinking…." Chris began, in a voice that was too small for Piper to hear him. He was determind to say his piece, now before he lost his nerve and changed his mind again.

"….I want to stay in the past"

the pair chorused in unison.

"You should go back in to the future"

XXX

A short while later and Paige was actually enjoying herself. Phoebe returned from the bar with three glasses of coke. "Here" she handed one to Paige, who was busy scanning the room. "Who are you looking for?"

"Glenn. He said he was coming and he's still not here."

"I thought you were over him?"

"I am. Mostly."

"Who's Glenn?" Jo asked.

"Never you mind"

"Speaking of cute guys" Phoebe interrupted. "That guy over there is totally checking you out, has been for the past 20 minutes."

Paige turned discretely to observe a clean cut dark haired man, with light blue eyes starring back at her.

"Do you recognise him?" Phoebe asked.

Paige searched frantically through her alcohol and drug fuelled memories of high school. "He was in my maths class. I think. I wasn't really there a whole lot"

"Don't look now, but he's coming over" Jo screeched, and sure enough the guy in question was making his way toward the trio.

"We'll just be over here if you need us" Phoebe grabbed Jo and they strode off toward the buffet.

"Subtle" the guy said as he reached Paige.

"Yeah" Paige agreed." any way, Hi, nice to see you again..."

"Kyle" he replied, saving her the embarrassment of asking his name. "Kyle Brody…and you're Paige? Paige …Matthews?"

"The one and only"

"So, Paige, are you going to the evening do?"………

………"Look at them!" Phoebe and Jo stood watching Paige and Kyle talk.

"Yeah" Phoebe's phone rang. "Piper? What's she calling me for?..Back in a sec" Phoebe moved off to the side.

Jo stood sipping at her drink, suddenly becoming aware that she was being watched. Out of the corner of her eye she could see a man approach. A balding, greasy, overweight man, who had managed to cram his huge torso into a leather jacket that was several sizes too small for him,. He looked at her with his little piggy eyes.

"Hey cutie" he drawled "a little hottie like you shouldn't be standing all by herself."

"I am fine thank you." Jo replied, her voice rigid.

"You sound a little tense, you know I can always give you something to 'loosen you up'. He wrapped his arms round her shoulder.

"No thank you."

"Come on now..."

"Get your filthy hands off her Lucas" Paige was at her daughter's side.

"Paige Matthews, as I live and breathe"

"I said; get your hands off my daughter?"

"She's yours? How could I have missed it? The resemblance is quite striking. I never realised you got knocked up, can't say I'm surprised though, you were the town 'bike' after all"

"Shut your mouth"

"Now, Paige that's no way to speak to an old friend. out of curisoiry..Who's the father?"

"None of your dam business"

"So you don't know huh…, figures, you weren't particularly fussy..She could even be mine" he reached out to touch jo's arm, Paige stopped him.

"You touch one hair on her head, and so help me god I will rip you limb from limb"

"That's more like it, that's the real Paige, you can dress up in your smart skirt, and pretend to be respectable, but under neath the veneer, you're the same trashy person that you always were" He sneered.

"Get the hell away from us" Paige's eyes flashed in anger.

"Gee you only had to ask"

Looking the pair of them up and down he ambled off slowly "see ya around".

"That son of a bitch" Paige was trembling.

"mum it's ok, he didn't do any thing!"

Before Paige could respond, Phoebe ran up, her face concerned. "We gotta go"

"Too right"

"No, I mean Piper called, she said we had to get back home right now. That it was pretty urgent."

"Well then, let's go". Paige waved shyly over at Kyle, "I'll see you later?" He nodded back his reply, and the 3 walked out.

XXX

The manor, 10 minutes previously…..

"You want to stay here?" Piper asked incrediouls

"Well I did, but now that you don't seem to want me around, I'm not so sure"

"Chris, don't be ridiculous, of course I want you here, I only suggested that you go back to the future because I thought that was what _you_ wanted"

"why would you think that?"

"because you all your friends are in the future, your brother who you love is in the future…"

"yeah, my friends who will all be completely different, my older brother who I willl barely know because we won't share the same memories..who's waiting for me there?

…Bianca won't be..and.."

"…and?"

"..and you might not be" Chris glanced up, seeing the look of pain that momentarily flashed across his mother's face, and immediately began to back track. "mom, look I didn't mean to upset you, I just can't help but wonder…."

"It's ok" Piper reassured him, even though inwardly her heart was breaking. "I wonder that myself, if I still.."

"No!" Chris shouted "I don't want to talk about it, or think about it, I just want to stay here, please don't send me back there, please mom"

"Chris!" Piper leapt to her feet and was round the otherside of the table pressing her son's head against her, stroking his hair like she did with Wyatt when he was upset. "Please calm down, we won't make you do anything you don't want to do."

"I know it will be difficult, complicated to have two versions of me in this timeline.." he babbled.

"We'll sort something out, I'll speak to your father, I'll.."

However what Piper proposed to do, would remain a mystery as they were interrupted by a crashing sound from above. The pair raced out of the kitchen, ran up both flights of stairs, reaching the attic, Chris Tk'd the door open. Cautiously they inched forward to find the source of the noise.

Cole stood by the book of shadows, the little boy in his arms.

"Cole?" Piper exclaimed, gaping at her former brother-in-law. He had scratches all up his arms, black circles under his eyes, his clothes were torn, a worried expression on his face.

"One minute" He placed the boy in the floor, lead him over to the corner where a pile of Wyatt's toys lay abandoned on the floor. "You play with the toys for second, Daddy just needs to have a talk with the nice lady"

Turning back towards Piper and Chris, a frantic look appeared on his face. "Where's Phoebe?" he asked.

"Out" Piper was too stunned to argue.

"Get her back here" he ordered. "I need to speak to her _now_."

XXX


	5. Le Fabuleux Déstin de Benjamin Turner

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

**Chapter 4:Le Fabuleux Déstin de Benjamin Peter Turner.**

"PIPER" Paige yelled as the three piled through the door of the manor.

"Up here" Came the reply.

"She doesn't sound in too much trouble" Jo commented as they made their way up to the attic.

"That's a good sign" Piage agreed.

The trio crossed the threshold into the attic, "We came here as soon as we could…." Phoebe's voiced trailed off as she took in the sight of Cole looking desheviled, trapped in a crystal cage and his son, sat in the corner, oblivious to the happenings around him, playing happily with Wyatt's fire engine.

"Cole?. What, you, I, we…"Phoebe babbled "whats with the crystal cage?"

"He kinda seemed in a hurry to leave and we figured that it might be best if he stuck around until you got back" Piper explained.

"I said, I wasn't going to leave until I spoke to Phoebe, so there was no need for the cage" Cole spat.

"_and I_ have certain issues trusting you, given your track record, better safe than sorry"

"Anyway" Chris interrupted, " I think us 4 need to go pretend like we have something else to do"

"Good plan, we'll er, see you in a while" Piper pushed Paige and Jo out the door.

"Thank god for that" Cole sighed as they disappeared, "Now, will you please let me out of this thing, I'm in a bit of a hurry."

"Piper said you needed to speak to me" Phoebe ignored his plee.

" I do"

"So speak"

"I need you to do me a favour" Cole spoke in hushed tones, so as not to disturb the child "I need to go away for a while, and I need you to look after my son"

"your son? Don't you mean _our_ son?" He looked at her sharply "Yes Cole" Phoebe whispered, "I figured it out"

"I knew you would, it was just a question of time"

"hang on a second..you knew I would figure it out? You weren't bothered that I might have had the shock of my life when I found that out?"

"Shock? Come on! It's not like you're a cloistered Nun, you have had sex , you have even been pregnant..and as much as that sounds insensitive and as much as I really would like to go into the ins and outs of the whole affair, I don't have time, I have to go"

"No way, I …"

"I'm in danger Phoebe, real _danger_, and every second that I stand here, I am putting the rest of you in danger too"

"why?"

"The Kyriad demon? Remember him, it's part of a tribe, like I said, now the tribe is after me, and so are Vulgate demons who have promised to protect the Kyriads and, and short version…, I have to disappear for a while…"

"How long for?"

"Honestly, I don't know, a couple of weeks may be a couple of months, I need to lay low until the matters resolved, that's why I want you to look after my son, I need to know that he is going to be safe…please just let me out of this cage _I have to go_"

" Cole you are in a magically protected cage, you can't get out, and neither can dark magic get in, you're safe for a few more minutes, at least. Besides you are not leaving this cage until you tell me a few things"

Cole sighed. He knew this would happen, that he wouldn't be allowed leave no strings attached. This was Phoebe after all. Deep down he didn't blame her, he would be the same if the boot were on the other foot. "Like what?" He asked, deciding it might be quicker to answer her questions rather than keep arguing.

"Like I don't know, the child's _name_ perhaps? How old he is?"

"His name is Benjamin, Benjamin Peter Turner. He's 3 ½ years old." Cole looked around him nervously as if he expected a demon to scale the roof at any second.

"How is he alive? I thought he died along with the Seer"

Cole paused in his scanning of the room."You can't _kill_ a child destined to be that powerful Phoebe" He stated, a note of reproach in his voice.

"When the Seer was destroyed, Ben's soul , his essence if you like, was set free, it roamed the wasteland, trying to find a body strong enough to carry it. Each demoness that it settled in, could only withstand the burden for a few weeks at a time, as he was just too powerful. Eventually, a female warlock was sent to the wasteland. She was strong, he transferred himself to her, she carried him to full term, but the birth killed her. I arrived back in the underworld just in time. It has been Ben and I ever since"

"The underworld? Is he evil?" She sounded cautious.

"No! Did you even pay attention when Paige came into her powers? Every magical creature has that 48 hour window in which they choose whether they want to use their powers for good or for bad. Ben may be part demon, but he is also part charmed one. I decided on his behalf that he would use his powers for good, however difficult that may be, I don't want him to have the life I had. However Ben has much fame in the underworld, as much fame as Wyatt has in the world of good magic. The story soon spread that the child of the former source and a charmed one had actually survived, and was alive and well. I knew we had to leave the wasteland, it was too dangerous, the chance of corruption or kidnapping was just too high. We spent just over two years travelling between plane to plane, never stopping in one place long enough to be detected. Unfortunately it seemed as if the underworld was closing in on us, so just under a year ago, I decided to re-enter the mortal world."

"How did you do that?"

"I made a deal with an Elder. Guideon, I believe his name was. He gave us the power of mortal life in exchange for Ben's demonic powers."

"You made a deal with _Guideon_?"

"To me it seemed like a no lose situation. Ben was freed of all his demonic powers apart from the ability to shimmer, which Guideon as an elder, didn't need, and we both became able to live amongst the mortals, harder for demons to detect us you see."

"But when you came to get help, for that potion , Ben kept asking about his mother..who was he talking about?"

"You"

"Me? But.."

"He watches you,.. _we_ watch you…from up above, on the spiritual plane,…once every couple of weeks we go up there…I point you out, describe what you're doing.."

"Then why didn't he recognise me?"

"Phoebe! He's 3 , he was groggy from a demon attack, awake for all of 2 minutes, in which time he probably didn't pay much attention to his surroundings. Besides things look different from up on the spiritual plane, we're high above, you're a little brown haired blob in the distance, he's never seen your face up close."

".But why did you show him, me, let him know he had a mother, if you weren't planning on introdcuing me, or making me part of his life?"

"Because I had to be prepared, _he _had to be prepared, in case something like this happened, that I had no other choice but to leave him a while, it wouldn't come as such a shock to him, to stay with virtual strangers."

"But.."

"Phoebe, I really I don't have time, I need to leave now"

He was beginning to scare her now. Hell, he looked scared himself, she knew it was serious. Silently she kicked the crystals out of place, trying to make sense of all the information she had just received.

"Hey buddy" Cole crossed the room and was at his son's side in an instant.

"Daddy!"

"Look Benny boy, I need you to introduce you to someone important okay"

"'kay"

He lead the boy over to Phoebe, who was rooted to the spot.

"Do you know who this is?"

Ben shoke his head shyly.

"You know how we go up to the spirit plane, to watch the nice dark haired woman?. Well here she is, this is mommy"

"She's mommy?"

"Yes."

"Is she real? Can I touch her?" without waiting for an answer he extended a pudgy little hand and poked her on the cheek. Phoebe felt as if she had just had an electric shock. This little boy, was her son, the feeling of love she was experiencing right now was so overpowering that she thought she might pass out. Was it because she was an empath Or was this how most people felt around their childen? She didn't know, but what she did know that it was one of the best sensations in the world.

"Okay Ben, I need you to listen to me a minute, this is important" Cole held his little hands in his own. "daddy has to go away for a little while, so I need you to stay here with mommy"

"No!" He cried, and Phoebe immediately felt as if a dagger had plunged into her heart. " I can't stay here!"

"why not?" Cole looked puzzled

"Daddy!" Ben exclaimed, as if Cole was an idiot "what if she doesn't like me?" He continued in a none too subtle stage whisper.

Phoebe didn't know if she wanted to laugh or cry. Her son, standing there, looking so serious. It was then she noticed. His eyes. Everything else about his features came from Cole, apart form his eyes, his big hazel eyes. They were hers, and hers alone, and right now they looked so scared and confused, that all she wanted to do was reach down and hold him close, tell him that everything would be ok.

"Ben" Cole began. "I'm sure mommy loves you very much, and the more time you spend with her, the more she can see how lovely you are"

"But I wanna come with you"

"No , not this time"

"why do you hafta go?"

"I have to go and talk to some nasty men. I'll be gone a little while"

"How long's a while?"

"I don't know Ben, which is why I want you to stay with mommy"

"'kay" he mumbled as his bottom lip began to tremble, and tears started to form in his eyes.

"Hey, where did my brave little soldier go?" He picked his son up, holding him close, inhaling the smell of his hair. "I'll be back to see you very soon, okay. I will always be with you"

"I have to go" Cole addressed Phoebe over the top of Ben's shoulder. "I'll try and sneak back when I can". Phoebe nodded. Cole handed Ben over to her. The little boy was bawling now, his face bright red, kicking out his legs.

"Sush sush" She attempted to make soothing noises, trying to calm him like she saw Piper do so often with Wyatt. His response was to bury his head into her shoulder, and muffle the noise he was making.

"take care" Cole paused for one last glance, before he shimmered out.

XXX

"I wonder how it's going up there" Chris pondered.

The four of them were spread over assorted arm chairs in the living room, trying to keep up a light hearted stream of conversation.

"There's no shouting" Piper commented, " If I had my way…."

"If you had your way you would have blown him up the second he arrived" Paige finished.

"I'm the oldest" Piper countered," I am just trying to look out for my baby sisters"

"Perhaps I shouldn't go the reunion dance this evening" Paige continued.

"Oh NO" Jo interrupted. "Mum, you have to go, you can't stand Kyle up"

"Kyle, who's Kyle?" Piper and Chris chimed in unison.

"Her date"

"He's not my date, he's just a guy who happened to ask if I was going to the dance this evening. I merely said Yes"

"So it is a date" Piper clarified.

"For the hundredth time!..it's just two people who are going to be in the same place at the same time"

"which sounds to me like a date" Piper repeated.

"That's what I said" Jo agreed.

Paige looked as if she was about to commit infanticide.

"Here's an idea, let's change the subject" Chris suggested. They sat in silence for a few moments.

"Do you know what's weird?" Paige began

"You denying the fact you have a date?" Piper answered.

"That Ben doesn't exist in your timeline" Paige continued, ignoring her older sister." I mean, Jo existed in your timeline, we just brought events forward by a couple of years somehow, but the fact that Ben didn't exist at all….?"

"hmmmmm" Chris gave a non-commital kind of shrug and suddenly appeared to become engrossed in an old episode of friends that was playing silently to itself on the television.

"Christopher" His mother called, "You have exactly the same look as your father when he's not telling me something…."

"It won't do you any good to know…, it won't effect anything really"

"why don't we be the judge of that" Paige added.

He looked up, three Halliwell women, all with their arms crossed and the same look of determination on their faces. Not even the hardened of criminals would be able to hold up against these 3 for long. He sighed.

"Ben did exist in my future, sort of."

"sort of ? waddayah mean sort of? Either he did or he didn't " Patience was not Piper's strong point.

"In my timeline, Ben died in the attack with the Kyriad Demon, Cole couldn't get him to Phoebe in time, or to Phoebe at all in fact."

"Why isn't or wasn't he on the family tree then?" Paige questioned, recalling their brief jaunt to the future which had provided a spring board for the events of the past year.

"Because Cole never told anyone he had existed, not even Phoebe, It was just too painful for him. As far as he was concerned, he had Phoebe and the girls and it seemed as if he had been given a fresh start."

"Then how do you know about him?"

"Wyatt. When he was expanding his army, he was looking everywhere for new recruits. One of his demonic minions told him of a rumour he had heard, about the possible off spring of a charmed one and a source. Wyatt realised the potential of having such a powerful person on his side, a member of his own family, no less, so he demanded that this child be found. Investigations were carried out, and the story was uncovered, by that point you guys had all been.." Chris searched for an appropriate euphamsim "dealt with."

"My god!" Piper put a hand to her mouth, in the realisation that she would perhaps never know about some of the true horrors that her son had lived though. Fortunately for the shocked trio, they were not allowed to dwell on those thoughts, as Phoebe came clattering down the stairs from the second floor. The four of them quickly sat up and hastily attempted to rearrange their faces into something ressembling a smile.

"Hey" they chorused.

"Hey Phoebe replied, as she came to stop in the doorway, Ben still resting on her hip.

"Where's Cole?" Piper asked.

"He had to leave"

"Leave?"

"Yeah, I'll ugh, explain later, but Ben's feeling a little upset, aren't you?" Ben nodded his head, a woeful look in his eyes.

"I bet I know what would make you feel better.." Piper bounded across the room to address her new nephew "How do you fancy some ice cream?"

Ben allowed himself a little smile, and nodded his head slightly.

"Cool, I'll get the bowls" Chris announced, glad to have relieved some of the tension.

"Who said you were having some?" Piper asked, " Ben here is allowed some because his his daddy has gone away for a bit"

"But mummy.." Chris said in a mock baby voice "My Daddy is away too"

"Alright!" Piper conceded, "Jo I suppose you would like some too?"

"Well, seeing as I don't have a Daddy…"

"Why don't we all just have ice cream" Piper ordered, "Come on, into the Kitchen, besides I feel some introductions are in order.

"Good, 'cos then aunty Phoebe can help mum to decide what to wear on her date"

"ITS NOT A DATE" Paige screeched as the four trundled into the kitchen.

Phoebe smiled. She held back a bit and gazed down at her son, who was clinging onto the sleeve of her top, as if he expected her to disappear at any minute too, gazing listelestly into the middle distance. He was still shaking slightly, confused at being in this new house, which seemed so familiar yet at the same time so strange. She kissed the top of his head. It was going to be a long road ahead….

TBC


	6. It's My Life, it's now or never

**Chapter 6: "It's My Life it's now or never, I ain't gonna live forever, I just wanna live while I'm alive"(Jon Bon Jovi)**

The following morning Chris could be found in the sunroom lazily flicking through the channels on the TV, Wyatt playing with his toys at his side. Chris', insomnia had been abaited since the vanquish of Gideon, but now with all the uncertainty about it his future, it seemed to be coming back. It was still early, the rest of the house was fast asleep, the connection he shared with Wyatt meant that he had sensed the little boy's desire to get up, and had orbed into the nursery to collect him, before the two of them had settled down on the sofa. He was somewhat surprised therefore, to find his father of all people, entering the room shortly after 7am.

"Dad!" He exclaimed "what are you doing here?"

"I woke up and saw that Wyatt wasn't in his bed, and then sensed that the two of you were down here" The Elder explained.

"No, I mean, _here_, as in on earth, as opposed to Elder-Land"

"Oh, right, I came back yesterday, your mother wanted me last night"

"ew, Dad too much info!"

"What?.. no, not like _that_, she wanted to talk to me, about you as a matter of fact"

"lemme guess..about me wanting to stay in the past?"

"Yes"

"I knew it would cause too many problems! I'm such an idiot, I shouldn't have said anything, I should just return to the future and live with it."

"No, Chris, there is obviously a good reason why you want to stay in the past, and we all know that you don't act on impulse, I'm assuming that you have given this a lot of thought"

"I've done nothing but think about it"

"Good. That's what I explained to the elders"

"The Elders? Why do we have to drag them into this?"

"Because they are the Elders! You can't just decided to play around with the space/time continum and not expect to get them involved"

"Well what did they say?"

"What _did_ they say?" Piper stood in the doorway, the baby on her hip. She walked forward and settled him down on the sofa in between Chris and Wyatt. She seemed to contemplate the scene for a moment "aw, my boys, perhaps I should take a photo.." then she snapped out of it and turned back to Leo "yes, you got back very late last night, I'd like to hear this myself….what did they say?"

"Well.." Leo began.

XXX

Lazing in bed on the second floor, Paige was busy replaying her 'none-date' of last night back in her mind.

----Flashback----

_She entered the balloon covered gymnasium, trying to glide seamlessly on the killer 4 inch stiletto black heels that she had borrowed from Phoebe, whilst simultaneously trying not fall over and break an ankle. 'Great it's prom night all over again' she thought, not that she actually remembered a lot about that particular night, a whole bottle of Vodka had soon seen to that._

_She stood by the wall, subtly scanning the room for 'kyle',who didn't appear to be there. 'Why did I let myself get talked into this?' she admonished herself. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a figure approach her from the left._

"_Hey…"she spun round to meet them "I wondered where…"her voice trailed off. Lucas stood there a sleezy grin on his face, _

"_Not who you were expecting?" he smirked._

"_Drop dead"_

"_Paige, Paige Paige, I thought we were past all this, I mean we are practically family"_

"_Family? How did you work that one out?"_

"_That little girl of yours, got me thinking, judging by the age of her, I reckon that there is a 50 she is mine?"_

"_She is **not** yours"_

"_How do you know?"_

"_because she is nothing like you, and I just know ok"_

_He took a step forward, inching himself close to her so that she could smell the alcohol on his breath._

"_You're right there, she looks nothing like me, she's an almost exact replica of you, looks the young ingénue, but is really up for anything, and shall we say**..anyone**.."_

"_get away from me!"_

"_come now, don't be shy"_

"_I believe the young lady asked you to step away" Kyle Brody stood there, Police shield held out. "Don't make me have to ask you again"_

"_sure officer" Lucas replied, the sincerity not quite reaching his eyes. "whatever you say" he scuttled off._

"_You took your time" Paige half reprimanded him._

"_waiting for me were you?" Kyle asked._

"_might have been"_

"_well, let's not waste anymore time then, shall we?" he offered her his arm, and they headed off toward the seating area._

--End of Flash back--

The rest of the night had passed by in a bit of a blur. They had talked none stop, danced, joked, it was as if something had just clicked and they acted as if they had known each other for years, rather than a few short hours. Paige smiled to herself. Yep definitely a good evening. Yawning she opened her eyes, she turned slightly, and it was then she noticed, she was not alone. Kyle Brody lay fast asleep to the left of her.

_Oh Crap_. There was a light knocking on the door "mum" Jo's voice was calling. _Double crap_

XXX

"..well" Leo began "They said that it was preposterous, ludicrous and not to mention highly irregular, and that it could cause irreparable damage to the timeline, have unforeseen consequences on the future of this family and all others who come into contact with us, and was ultimately down right absurd"

"I knew it!" Chris muttered

".._and I said_, that this was my son, who helped save their miserable asses from the evil influences of Gideon and Zankou, and they could either help us or forget about the charmed ones ever rescuing innocents again, because if they refused permission his mother and aunts would not be pleased in the slightest"

"so what did they say?"

"They capitulated of course"

"Brillant!"

"That's wonderful news" Piper began stroking her newly promoted 'oldest' son's hair.

"of course" Leo added, "there is one teeny tiny condition.."

XXX

Paige lept out of bed, flung on dressing gown, and opened her bedroom door a tiny amount before Jo's knocking woke Kyle up.

"Mum" Jo exclaimed "How did it go last night?..can I come in?"

"it went really well" Paige babbled "really well, and urgh you can't come in because..umm" Paige stole a backwards glance into the room behind her, she saw a vase of Daffodils on the table "I've broken my vase and there's glass and water all over the floor"

"Ok, do you want any help to clean it up?"

"No, it's fine, why don't you go have a bath and we'll talk later ok?"

"Okay" Jo agreed, wondering if perhaps her mother had had too much to drink last night and was acting a bit crazy.

_Phew_. Paige shut the door behind her. _That was close_.

"Kyle" Paige began to shake him slightly "Kyle wake up"

"hey….morning gorgeous" he muttered

"morning, look you've got to go!"

"go?"

"Yeah, go, do the walk of shame and all"

"But what about last night?"

"Last night ..we were great, I mean, it was great, I mean, you know we had a lovely time, but I don't really want my daughter to find a half -naked man in my bed"

"right, yeah of course." Kyle jumped out of bed and began pulling his clothes on. "you _do_ want to meet up again though?"

"Of course I do" Paige reassured him, "I meant what I said, last night was amazing"

"Sure was" Kyle agreed as he fastened up his jacket "even better than the first time!"

"First time?" Paige repeated as she handed him his shoes.

"Yeah, you know, summer of 1992, Jimmy Klein's house party? I guess my memory is a little clearer, as they say every guy remembers his first time..mind you we had had a lot to drink. Are you okay?" he asked, as Paige froze in front of him.

"Yeah" she stuttered.

"Cool" He gave her a quick peck on the cheek " I'll call you ok"

"Yeah"..with that he slipped out of her bedroom and made his way quietly down to the front hall.

_Oh my god_. Paige thought as she watched from her window as he strode down the front path. _That's how I know him! It wasn't from maths class, it was from that party, **the** party…he was Jo's father!_

XXX

"Alright" Piper drawled "what's the catch?"

"It's not a catch persay"

"Leo!"

"Well, via a combination of elder magic, the cleaners and memory dust, we can add Chris to every governmental data base, electoral roll and telesales call list in existence, and also implant him in the memory of those people outside of the family who don't know who he is…the only problem is the um physical aspect of things"

"what do you mean?" Chris asked

"The problem is, is that it is going to be very hard for people to believe that you are our son when there is only 10 years age gap between us, no to mention the fact that you look older than 22 anyway"

"so what do they want me to do? Pretend like I'm some long lost relative?"

"They said it was up to us, so I've been thinking and the easiest way all round is for you to loose a few years"

" For me to what?"

"To lose some years, and for your mother to gain some years"

"Hang on now!" Piper interrupted " I am not suddenly going to age 10 years!"

"Can we all just calm down and listen! Chris, you would lose 4 years, as in you would become 18, and Piper you would just gain 1 year and become 33, that way, it would look as if you had Chris when you were 15, as opposed to 10 which would be a lot more believable"

"Dad! You just said I look older than 22, how the hell am I going to pass for 18?"

"There is a spell we can cast, that will make you look physically younger, you will still retain all your memories and the mentality of a 22 year old, you will just look younger. Plus 18 isn't so bad, you're still an adult and you won't have to go to school"

"wait a second mister" Piper cut him off "you're going to cast some mojo on me to make me look 33?"

"No," Leo continued "In your case, it is just enough that we alter all the official documentation, physically you can remain the same"

"I hope so!"

"So Chris" Leo asked "What do you think?"

"If that's what it takes to keep me in the present then I guess that's what I'll do"

"Well, the elder's have given you a week's grace to think about it"

"A week? What am I supposed to do in the mean time?"

"Well, I 'm glad you asked me that, follow me.." Leo beckoned, The family trooped through the sunroom and into the kitchen.

"Hey family outing?" Phoebe entered the kitchen, a pyjama clad Ben on her hip staring shyly at them all.

"not quite" Piper replied "Was Ben awake all night?" she asked noticing the dark rings under her younger sisters eyes.

"No, after all the sugar and making new friends with Wyatt, he just zonked out. It was me, I couldn't sleep, I kept checking on him every 5 minutes, I was worried he might stop breathing, or he might be in trouble, that and I just wanted to watch him because he looked so perfect laying there…how do you do it? How do you sleep?"

"because pretty soon you realise that you need at least 7 hours sleep in order to run round after a small child all day" Piper explained. "You'll get the hang of it"

"People, can we keep it moving please?" Leo asked as they stood by the back door.

"What do you think?" he continued.

" I think it's the back garden" Chris quipped.

"No" Leo replied "This is part of the house, or it will be"

"huh?"

"With all these new additions, your mother and I decided that we needed to make some changes around here, namely, give you a proper room if you're going to stay, give the boys a proper bedroom instead of our closet, a bedroom for Ben for when he comes to visit, a spare room now that Jo has the current spare room for her bedroom…thus, your mother suggested that we magically extend the house, add two extra rooms onto each floor, so six in total.."

"..and your father gave me a lecture on the use of magic for personal gain, and wanted to reaffirm his masculinity by getting up close and personal with hammers and nails.."

" ..so that's going to be our project, you and me, to build an extension out here what do you say?"

"um, okay?" Chris wasn't convinced, it was certainly a lot to think about.

"Good" leo's eyes glistened, thinking about his new construction project, as Piper patted him on the back indulgently. Phoebe looked on, pleased at the thought of Ben coming to visit every weekend, tickling the boy slightly under his chin. Upstairs Paige continued to stand in her window, dumbstruck by the latest twist in her increasingly complicated life.

It was going to be an eventful week…

XXX


	7. Seven Long Days

A/N: Thank you for all the reviews, the answers to your questions will be revealed as the story progresses, there is an explanation for everything! Appologies if this chapter seems a little filler –ish, I just have a few things that need to be settled before the events of the chapter 8.

**Chapter 7: Seven Long Days.**

Phoebe sat on the bench in the park, basking in the warmth of the sun. Ben was playing in a nearby climbing frame. The past week with Ben had been one of the happiest, if not the most exhausting time of her life. After his initial shyness Ben had begun to come out of his shell and had even started to speak to people without having first to be prompted, although Phoebe could tell that he had inherited some of the shyness that the human side of his father was prone to. They had laughed, coloured, baked cakes, made mud pies and watched cartoons, not letting each other out of their sight since that Saturday afternoon, exactly one week ago when Cole had shimmered into the attic with his little bombshell.

She smiled to herself. _My son_, she thought, _my son_, there's a nice ring to those words. Lost in her thoughts the heat began to lull her into a gentle doze, she felt her eyes become heavy and begin to close, she may have even fallen to sleep if it wasn't for the shadow that suddenly loomed across her face.

'Phoebe!" A voice yelled.

Phoebe opened her eyes with a start 'Elise!' she croaked as the shape of her boss loomed large in front of her. "What are you doing here?"

'It's a public park Phoebe, so called because everyone is allowed to use it, but i must say i didn't expect to see _you_ here" she exclaimed "or indeed looking so robust!"

"robust?" she asked weekly.

"yes, according to your sister the reason you actually haven't been in work all week, and we have therefore been forced to print a series of 'best-of' articles, is because you were bed bound with shingles" 

"shingles?" Phoebe repeated, making a mental note to warn Piper not to use illnesses that she had never heard of when inventing excuses for missing work.

"I could of sworn there was an echo, yes Phoebe shingles."

"well. I um, thought it was shingles, when in fact it was something else..."she trailed off

"I'm sure it was" The tone in Elise's voice indicated anything but. 

"As you seem to have recovered enough to come to the park with your nephew" she indicated Ben who was now walking toward the pair "then i shall expect to see you in work on Monday, 9 am sharp" 

"about that.."Phoebe began

"Mummy" Ben shouted as he approached the two women "Mummy look I picked a flower for you" He extended an arm to show Phoebe the Daisy clasped in his hand.

"_What_ did he say?" Elise goggled.

"That's' lovely sweet heart thank you" Phoebe gave him a hug." do you want to go pick 2 more? I'm sure aunty Piper and Aunty Paige would like one too"

"Okay" he ran back toward the climbing frame.

"that's _your son_?"

"yes" 

"Can I ask how, over the 3 years we have worked together, you have never actually mentioned that you have a son?"

"It's difficult.. he, ugh, lives with his father most of the time..i don't really like to talk about it, too painful" Phoebe hedged.

Elise arched an eyebrow clearly not believing a word of what had been said.

"I don't understand you sometimes Phoebe, really I don't" She sighed, her phone suddenly began beeping. "that's my ex-obviously going to be late dropping off the boys..i'd better go." She paused. "see you Monday?"

"Yes" Phoebe replied almost hesitantly " see you Monday".

As Elise headed off, Ben came running back. "I got them"

"Good boy" Phoebe stroked his cheek.

"these ones are blue and.." he stopped dead.

"Ben?" Phoebe grew concerned.

"It's Daddy!" He shouted, and shimmered out.

XXX

"So where's Chris?" Leo asked his wife. It had felt like the longest week of his life, being stuck up there in Elderland away from his wife and children, and he had just returned to bring Chris the aging potion, only to find his second son no where to be seen.

"Out Back" Piper motioned toward the window where a solitary figure could be seen sawing wood with venomous zeal.

"he does know what day it is right?" Leo continued as he placed a little red bottle on the kitchen table.

"Of course he does"

"So what's he doing? Has he made his mind up?"

"You ask me. He's been like that all week, every time I approach the subject with him he flies out the back door and begins digging or hammering or sawing, he's going to have that thing built by the end of the month! What you see now, is the result of me reminding him what day it was."

" I see" Leo stalked over toward the window "CHRIS" he shouted. No response.

He hammered on the plane of glass "CHRIS!"

"already tried that" Piper told him.

"Fine" Leo approached Wyatt who was sat in his booster seat " Hey buddy can you orb Chris to us please?"

"Kiss!" The little boy yelled, waving his arm.

An orb cloud filled the room "What?" Chris howled as he materialised.

"You know what" Leo stated.

"It's time Chris " Piper said gently " we need to know your decision"

Chris stared at the little bottle on the table._ Funny_ he thought, _how often the things which contain the greatest power come in the smallest of packages_. His heart began to race, and his palms began to sweat. _This is it_.

"What about the baby?" He shouted, in a last ditch attempt to stall for time. "you can't have two children with the same name" he sounded almost triumphant, as if he had found a flaw in their great plan.

"Well" Piper began "Given that you have had your name longer, and that the baby is only a few months old, I think it makes more sense to rename him, don't you?"

"to what?"

"Victor, after your grandfather"

"Oh" Chris seemed to contemplate this for a few moments.

"And I won't have to go to High School?"

"No, Chris you won't have to go to high school" Leo reassured him. "You can help me with the house and work shifts at the club until you find your feet and decide what you want to do"

"Cool".

His pulse began to race again, it was now or never. His body began to work independently from his mind as he saw his arm reach out and grab the bottle, and pulled out the rubber stopper. He closed his eyes, opened his mouth and tipped the contents down his neck, swallowing the minty liquid in one go. He opened his eyes and waited. And waited. He opened his eyes; nothing had happened.

XXX

Paige sat in the restaurant, her once manicured nails had been bitten down to the wick, and the napkin in front of her had been shredded into Confetti. She glanced at the clock again. _Where was he?_

For Paige it had been the most stressful week of her life. After Kyle had left on Sunday morning she had immediately gone down stairs and related the whole incident to her sisters. Piper and Phoebe had been in agreement. He should be told. Sam had orbed in to take Jo bowling and offered his opinion ' he has a right to know'. Hell even her tarot cards and tea leaves were telling her as such. However that was much easier said than done. They had met up twice, once for a coffee, and once for mid week drinks. Both times Kyle had attempted to keep the conversation flowing, but both times a sense of awkardness hung in the air as Paige struggled to think how best to reveal her secret.

This time she had invited him for brunch, and was determined that she would tell him, that or die trying.

"Sorry I'm late" Kyle appeared in front of her " Work called"

"That's ok, I took the liberty of ordering us two specials"

"Good I'm starved".

They made small talk until the food came, when finally Kyle could stand it no longer.

"look Paige I think I know why you asked me here"

"you do?"

"I think it's obvious?"

"Is it?"

"You want to break up with me isn't it? Not that we even got to the stage where we were even going out, but I had been kinda hoping that it would do..but nevermind"

"No! it's not like that at all!"

"Well then what is it? We had such a good time the other weekend and now everytime we meet up it's as if your on edge"

"Kyle I need to tell you something"

He paused in his attempt to cut up his sausage, his knife poised in mid air. "Go on then, I'm listening"

You know I mentioned I have a daughter ..Jo"

"the little girl who was at the reunion with you?"

"Yes, although she's not quite so little, she's 12"

"12? Jeez, you must have fallen pregant with her just after I moved to Chicago at the beginning of Junior year."

"You moved to Chicago? Well that explains why I never saw you again after that summer..and no actually you're wrong, I didn't fall pregnant _after_ you left"

"Help me out here okay, I'm a little confused."

"She's yours" Paige whispered "You're her father"

"What?" Kyle gasped. "are you sure?" The knife fell from his right hand and cut across the back of his left hand , however no sooner had the 2 inch gash opened up then there was a sparkling of tiny lights and the wound healed up.

"Completely" Paige replied.

XXX

"Ben!" Phoebe screamed at the top of her lungs frantically looking all around her for any sign of her son. "Ben!"

"Over here" A low voice cried. Phoebe spun round, it seemed to becoming from a row of bushes to her left. She crept forward. Pushing back some of the foliage she breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"oh thank god" she cried, as she spotted Cole, Ben in his arms.

"Don't ever do that again!" She reprimanded

"Did you shimmer away from mummy?" Cole asked

Ben nodded his head, his bottom lip beginning to tremble " I s ss sorry"

"It's ok" Phoebe reassured him " I was just really really worried"

"mummy's right Benny Boy, no shimmering without telling people where your going ok? And no shimmering in public"

"Ok"

"good, now give me another hug."

"What happened to you?" Phoebe asked as she took in the sight of her ex-husband for the first time. His face appeared gaunt, his trousers were ripped and he had several angry looking scratches on his left arm.

"was hiding out in the wasteland" he whispered, so that Bem wouldn't hear "had a bit of a run in with a snarkle, but it's fine, you should see the other guy!"

"Not funny"

"I know"

"Then what are you doing here?"

"I sent a sonic blast into a kyriad den on the astral plane, it should stall them for a few minutes so I thought I would nip here and see Ben"

"How did you know we'd be here?"

"I sensed you"

"Cole you need to take better care of yourself otherwise you'll wind up getting killed. When was the last time you ate?"

"No time.." he paused "there on to me, I gotta go…"

He thrust Ben back into Phoebe's arms "I'll be back soon"

"Cole, wait!"

"Take care" He shouted , ignoring her cries, and shimmered out, back into the path of possible death.

XXX

"What's going on?" Chris asked his father " I'm still exactly the same! What went wrong?"

"Nothing went wrong" Leo explained "Nothing happened because all you just drank was a mint liquor"

"what? You said it was.."

"Actually I never said it was anything, _you_ just assumed.."

"But ..I" Chris began only to realise that his father was correct, no one had actually said that the red bottle contained the potion. "you tricked me!"

"We needed to know how you truly felt" Leo continued, as he removed a second bottle from the pocket of his elder robes and placed it on the table. "and now that we know, you're ready to take the real potion."

"So, if I drink this potion, I really will turn 18 , no messing about this time.?"

"If you drink this potion, you will become physically 18, but the effects will last only for 12 months. After which time you will have to decide whether you really wish to stay here or if you want to go back. However this will be your final descion. No more time travelling, if you stay that's it. If you go, you can't come back. The elders have spoken, they won't change their minds about this."

"Let's get this over with" Chris grabbed the bottle once again, uncorked it and drank the murky liquid.

A blue light radiated from his body, blinding both Piper and Leo, who had to shield their eyes from the sight. When they opened them they were in for a shock.

"What a difference 4 years make" Piper gasped.

Although Chris remained the same height and build, his face had softened and become younger. His jeans and shirt had given away to board shorts and a t-shirt emblazoned with 'mile high fcuk", which revealed the prominent tattoo that snaked around his left wrist, his formerly short hair, now fell down to his shoulders.

"ah crap" Chris surveyed himself in the mirror " I can't believe I thought this looked good back then" he exclaimed tugging at his top.

"Nevermind the clothes, what about your hair" Piper exclaimed "we'll have to sort that out right away, how you ever managed to see anything is beyond me, it's all in you eyes."

"mom!"

"Don't you 'mom' me young man" she continued "and a tattoo? _You got a tattoo_! what on earth possessed you to get a tattoo?"

"where did the tattoo come from?" Leo was intrigued "you didn't have it before"

"I had it removed, it only takes seconds to surgically remove them in the future"

"I should hope so!" Piper interrupted "you obviously saw sense!"

"Like you can talk" Chris shot as Piper hastily pulled the sleeve of her top down to cover the celtic band on her own left wrist.

"Nevermind about me, we're talking about you, coming to your senses"

"No mom, I had it removed out of necessity"

"How so?" Leo asked.

"Wyatt and I both had them done" Chris detailed "I'd just turned 15 he was soon going to be 17. We thought it would be cool, that it would be our special thing, having identical tattoos that would mark us out as brothers. Only…"

"what?" Leo prompted

"only when he turned evil, and began attracting followers, they all thought it would be a good idea to get the same tattoo too, to show their allegence."

"why?" Piper didn't understand.

"Think about it mom, the most evil tyrants in history have all had their symbols, such as Hitler with his swatstika, hell even lord Voldemort had his death head mask, so it follows that the Rose Amongst Thorns tattoo became Wyatt's." he looked forlornly at his wrist " a sign of hope turned into the mark of evil"

He glanced up at his parents who stood watching him "when I joined the resistance, having this tattoo marked me out as suspicious, how could I show my commitment and prove that I was not a spy, when I had the rose amongst thorns etched into my skin? I had no choice, it had to be removed, every tie I had with Wyatt, both physical and symbological had to be severed."

His voice quivered slightly at the thoughts of his former life. "Now do you see why I want to stay in the past?"

XXX

"Kyle" Paige tried to elicite a response from him as he sat there opened mouthed. Such had been his shock that he hadn't noticed the knife cutting hand incident, which Paige noted was a good thing, as they certainly didn't need magic to distract them from the matter at hand.

"Kyle please talk to me"

Still nothing.

"Kyle I know this is a huge shock for you, and you can walk away from it all if you want, it's entirely your decision, but.."

"No" Kyle shouted a little too forcefully, finally finding his voice. " I don't want to walk away…I just, just don't know what to make of it all"

" I know, It's a lot to digest…it was a surprise even for me"

"does she know?"

"Who?"

"Jo?"

"No, she doesn't not yet"

"Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant ?"

"I didn't know myself until after you'd disappeared"

"she must hate me"

"why would she hate you? she doesn't know you"

"exactly , I've read about cases like this, she must think I'm some loser who bailed on the two of you before she was born..how did you cope all of these years?"

"I didn't..not exactly..it's complicated, I'll explain all of it in time, but the important thing is, she has no preconceived ideas about you, if that's what you are worried about."

"I never thought I would ever have kids" Kyle admitted "and now all of sudden I find I have a 12 year old daughter!"

"takes a bit of getting used to huh"

"sure does"

"well like I said, the ball is entirely in your court, if you don't want to be part of her life then I won't persue you, I just think you have a right to know"

"Can I meet her?"

"Of course, if you want, not right now obviously."

"I know that"

"Good, well we can arrange something"

"I'd like that"

They lapsed into silence again.

"Is that why you came up to me at the school reunion? Because you knew I was Jo's father?"

"No, to be honest I didn't really recognise you, and I didn't realise you were her father until later."

"How come?"

"I hope you're sitting comfortably, because it's a long story…."

XXX

"So how did it go with Kyle?" Phoebe asked as Paige parked her car on the driveway after having collected Phoebe and Ben from the Park on her way home.

"Not too bad, I explained the whole adoption thing, and we decided that it would be best of he got to know Jo slowly, so we're going to introduce him just as a friend of mine to begin with and…"

"wait one second you explained the adoption thing? As in the _whole_ adoption thing as in Elder's sticking their oars in and everything?"

"No, that part is for another day"

"are you nuts?"

"No! turns out Kyle's a whitelighter too, I don't know how or why, and I don't think he realises that I know either..ugh…why is nothing ever simple?"

"Because we're witches!"

"too true"

"hey" Jo greeted them as the entered the house " how was brunch with _Kyle_?

" I though you were swimming with Sam" Paige avoided her question.

" I was, he just dropped me back, the elders called him. Don't change the subject"

"Good you're back!" Piper joined them, " Just in time"

"For what?" Phoebe enquired.

"For my celebratory lunch" Piper explained , leading them into the dining room, where the table had been set and Leo , Wyatt and Baby Vic were seated..

" Great I'm starving" Paige exclaimed, as she had done nothing but play with her food at the restaurant, her nerves not allowing her to eat. "what are we celebrating?" she asked as they took their seats.

"Well, I thought we haven't given Ben a proper welcome to the family party, and also we need to acknowledge the fact that baby 'Victor' has a new name, and most importantly because, Chris has decided that he will be staying in the past, at least for a year"

As if on cue Chris walked in, carrying a large lasagne dish.

Phoebe , Paige and Jo stared at him gobsmacked.

"what?" Chris asked feeling the eyes of his family upon him.

"Nothing" Phoebe babbled "you just look rather hirsute, that's all"

"and brooding" Paige contributed

"and _young_" Jo chimed in.

"Shut up!"

"Kids!" Piper interrupted "Lets not spoil things shall we?"

"I think we should have a toast" Leo added, as they all picked their assorted glasses of water and juice

"Good idea" Piper agreed "Here's to having had a nice few demon free weeks and building a new life now that we are all finally together properly."

"Here Here" They toasted, clinking their glasses happily, before tucking into their meal.

Of course it wouldn't last. If only they had noticed the signs, the storm clouds gathering on the horizon, bringing a wind of change in the air. Fate was not yet finished with the Halliwell family, if only they had known what was to happen next, if only they had known…


	8. A Day They won't Forget

**A/N:I do not own charmed or anything to do with it.**

**Note: To clear up the confusion-Kyle knows he is a whitelighter (reasons for which will be explained in the coming chapters-if anyone is still reading). The reason why he didn't notice the cut on his hand healing is that he was in shock over Paige's news, so didn't actually notice that the knife had nicked him in the first place.( I always thought that unless it was a dark lighter arrow, white lighters can' t feel physical pain because they are healed instantly-probably wrong but that's my crazy reasoning)**

**Chapter 8: A day they won't forget.**

_2 weeks later…_

3 miles outside of the city limits of San Francisco, just off the old highway, there can be found a storage warehouse which used to belong to Nestlé. The warehouse has stood empty for the past 10 years, but should someone of cared to stop and look through the window, on this particular day, they would have been in for a surprise. For just after dawn on the 2nd of May 2005, a demon shimmered silently into the abandoned building, a body draped in his arms. He paused, scanned the room, and after ascertaining that it was well and truly empty, gently laid his precious cargo down onto the floor. The creature he had been carrying was in fact human, though appearences would have signalled otherwise, as they were clothed in leather trousers, and a brown tunic shirt, the unofficial uniform of demonic henchmen the world over. The Demon sighed as he observed the person on the floor in front of him, he would be sorry to leave them, but he knew it had to be done now, the human was stiring, a sign that it would regain consciousness at any moment. He bid a silent goodbye and with a look of sorrow in his eyes, the demon shimmered out.

The person in question slowly opened their eyes. _Where am I?_ were the first thoughts to enter their head, _I must have blacked out or something, because this isn't where I remember being._

They attempted to sit up, but the sudden movement was too much, and an over riding sense of dizziness prevailed.

_I have to get out of here_.

They didn't know where this place was, but they sensed it wasn't safe to remain there. Summoning all the effort they posseseed , they stood up, a brief glance at their watch face showed that the battery had stopped working

_Great, I have no idea what time it is,or where I am, hell it could be Sunday for all I know._

Gingerly stepping forward, the person headed toward what appeared to be a fire escape, no easy feet when their head throbbed and their limbs felt like lead. The fire door opened without much effort, years worth of rust having corroded away most of the hinges. They stepped out into the fresh air, surveying the skyline trying to determine where exactly they should be.

_This isn't right_ they thought, as their eyes squinted in the early morning light._ Something has gone horribly wrong._

XXX

Chris lay in bed in the attic gazing up at the ceiling. The early morning sunlight was pouring through the gap in the blinds and causing the brightly coloured reflections of the stained glass to make weired patterns on the ceiling. He smiled to himself remembering how, in his and Wyatt's room, the street lamps and car headlights had caused the same effect, and when he and Wyatt were younger they used to try and scare each other by pretending they were demonic shadows, making up stories about how they would vanquish it…

For the first time since he had decided to stay in the past, he felt a fleeting pang of nostalgia- He and Wyatt would never have that same relationship. They had been so close, what with there being only 20 months age gap between them. Of course they would be great friends, in this timeline he reasoned, but a sixteen year gap, that was a different thing.

Before he could dwell on the matter any further, he was distracted by a clomping sound coming from downstairs.

"Phoebe" he muttered.

His aunt had been offered the chance guest present the Agony Aunt session on Good Morning San Francisco for the past week. It meant leaving the house early, and of course Phoebe had yet to succeed in getting herself and Ben ready without waking up every single member of the family.

"Thank you" He thought as eventually the front door slammed shut and Phoebe finally left. "although I don't know why I'm grumbling it's not as if I have anything to get up for."

And it was true, he didn't have anything to do persay. He had spent the past two weeks 'adjusting' as Piper put it. Doing building work on the extension, working in P3 by night.

Truth be told he felt a little lost, he'd spent all of his adult life having a cause to fight for, an ultimate goal, and now there was nothing, just ordinary life stretching out infront of him, and he wasn't sure if he liked it….

XXX

In the meanwhile our errant stranger had been making their way through the streets.

_I need to head north,_

That had been their goal, for heading north they were hoping to find a familiar land mark. It proved to be a wise choice , as now after an hour of hobbling , some of the buildings were starting to look recogniseable. Had it been any other city then the demonic garb may have drawn attention, but fortunately being San Francisco, hardly anyone battered an eyelid. Stopping at the cross roads to wait for the lights to change, they watched as the early morning traffic began to build, hundreds of commutors starting out on their way to work. A bus trundled by, a familiar advert on the side. 'Ask Phoebe:She has all the answers', blared out in bold red letters.

_What?_ The stranger gasped, recognising the face. _Ask Phoebe? Well, I might just do that!_ And they set off with more determination than ever.

XXX

Chris had finally dozed back to sleep , only to be awoken some 2 hours later by the sound of someone not too successfully trying to creep quietly across the room.

He opened one eye, his hair was across his face in the style of 'Cousin It' but he could see between the strands, his heart froze, a demonic minion was standing over him, fireball in hand.

"No you don't!" He roared tk-ing the fireball into the owner, who flew across the room, crashing into an old wardrobe before exploding into flames.

There followed a thundering sound, and the attic door flew open and Piper ran into the room

"are you alright? What happened?" .

"I'm fine" Chris assured her as he attempted to sit up." Just a little early morning demonic action"

"Demonic ?" Piper practically screamed " I don't believe it'

"Mom, it's not like it's something new" he told her

"why is there always something constantly after one of my sons?" she continued, working herself up into a frenzy, her hands at the ready as if she were about to blow up the room.

"Mom, it's okay I'm alright, I took him out, he might not have been after me, he might have been after the book". Chris was puzzled, Piper Halliwell, eldest charmed one and accepted 'level headed' member of the trio, did not generally have near nervous break downs over demonic attacks. Well, at least until recently she didn't.

"Did you ID him?" She asked as she began to pace the room.

"I haven't had time. Besides, it was a hitman, he could have been working for anyone"

"well we need to find out, and fast" she snapped.

Thinking it best not to argue with her while she was in this mood, he reached up and grabbed the book of shadows from its stand. He began to flip through the pages, his hair fell in his eyes, and he pushed it behind his ears.

"and I told you to cut your hair" she admonished as she began making his bed and folding his clothes. Tidying, tidying was good, _she_ was in control of tidying…

"mom! My hair probably just saved my life!" Chris exclaimed

She shot him a look " but I'll get a trim later" he capitulated and continued to scan the pages.

"it's useless" he concluded after 2 minutes of flipping, "he was just a henchman .I guess we wait for the next one to attack and then freeze him, and find out who his master is"

"and be like sitting ducks?" she screeched.

"Do you have any better suggestions?" He was beginning to worry now, demonic action had been low to non-existent over the past few months but there was no need for his mother to overreact.

"No, and less of the cheek young man!"

"geez, I only said….look mom I really think you need to calm down"

"Calm? I am calm, who says I'm not calm?" She babbled. Then as if all the energy seemed to drain out of her, she flopped down on the bed. "you're right" she admitted, maybe I am a bit wound up"

"You think?"

"hmmm"

"mom, really, what's the matter?" he asked, coming to sit next to her.

"It's just.." she began, and for a split second it looked as if she was going to tell him, before she clammed up again. " Nothing, forget about it, I'm fine. You go back to bed" she pecked him on the cheek and stood up.

"but.."

"I mean it Chris, I think we all need to go back to bed and get a bit more rest."

"OK"

"Good" Piper waited until he had physically climbed back into bed. "do you want me to put you in a crystal cage?"

"what?"

"It's a joke" Piper said, only half lying. "I'll see you later" and she headed back to her own room.

Chris sighed. _That's decided_ he thought as he pulled the covers back over him. _My new cause, find out what the hell is wrong with mom._

XXX

At the foot of hill leading up to Prescott Street, the person paused. _Nearly there_, they reminded themselves, trying to block out the painful cramp in their side, and the unnerving sense of confusion and paranoia that was building inside their mind, contributing to the general nagging feeling that something didn't quite add up. Their paced quickened slightly, as the goal became nearer, the surroundings became blurred as every last ounce of effort was put into reaching their target. On arriving at the house in question, they stopped briefly and looked upwards. The lights on the front of the house were out, in fact one might have thought that the owners had already left for work, were it not for a small lamp burning in the living room window. They leapt up the front walk, taking the steps two at a time, a delirious smile on their face, grateful for having finally made it.

_They can help me! They can help!_

XXX

In the Living room of the Halliwell manor Paige sat alone in her thoughts, enjoying the peace and quiet of the early morning. She was far from being an early bird, but an upset stomach and a busy mind had prevented her from sleeping so she had decided to get up, and had been sat downstairs since Phoebe left. She was curled up on the sofa, the TV playing silently playing Good Morning San Francisco, Phoebe's face beaming out as they discussed some item of trivia. Jo had been waved off to school, Chris was in bed, Piper was upstairs changing the boys, and she herself should have been half way to work by now, but after her sleepless night she had decided to phone in sick. She drained the last of her coffee, and was debating whether to pour herself a second mug, when the front door flew open.

"PHOEBE, PIPER, ANYONE!" a voice was calling

Who on earth is that? Paige muttered, jumping to her feet immediately.She didn't have long to find out, no sooner had the words left her mouth, when the person rounded the corner.

_Shit_. The coffee cup fell to the floor, smashing into thousands of little pieces which spread out across the wooden boards. Paige barely noticed, her attention was drawn to the figure in front of her, for there in the doorway, dressed in demonic garb, hair unkempt, and a look of confusion on her face, stood the one and only Prue Halliwell.


	9. It's a Long Story I

**Chapter 9: It's a Long Story….**

They say we wonder blindly through life, ignorant to what fate has in store. If Prue had known on that spring day some 4 years ago what would have happened to her when they left the manor to go confront Shax, would she have gone? It was a question that many years later, even after all then blanks had been filled in, she would still be unable to answer.

Similarly, if Paige had known that on that same day an event would occur that would have an impact on her life. That the death of a sibling she never knew she had, would change her life so completely in a few short months, would she have believed it? No, definitely not.

Either way, fate had intervened once more, and two people who were never destined to meet were suddenly stood less than 10 metres apart.

"Who are you?" Prue asked the woman in the living room who was staring at her as if she had two heads. "_and what are you doing in my house_?"

Paige just gaped, unable to form any words to provide a response.

Not waiting for answer Prue called again, "PIPER PHOEBE"

Upstairs, Piper could just about hear someone shouting her name above the sounds of baby Victor babbling. She placed him gently back in his cot, closed the door and headed down stairs.

"What's the big emergency…" she trailed off as she took in the sight before her, stopping short on the bottom stair. "Prue?" she croaked, scarcely believing her eyes "_Is that really you..?"_

"Piper!" Prue cried, rushing toward her, "You made it back, you're alive!"

"Wuh?" Piper stuttered looking at the demonic clothing.

She wanted so badly to run into her sister's arms, to hold her tightly and tell her how much she had missed her. There were countless times over the years when she had imagined this kind of scenario, prayed for it, longed for it so much that it hurt.

But they had grown wiser in the 4 years since Prue's death, they had all learned to harden their hearts and not to foolishly trust people, Cole had taught them that, Gideon had taught them that, Barbras had taught them that. Not to mention the numerous shapeshifters, possessor demons who had all, impersonated family members in order to get close to them with the ultimate aim to kill and amass their powers. Therefore caution needed to be exercised, she _could_ not and _would_ not put her family in unnecessary danger again.

"Is that really you?" she repeated, still maintaining her position on the stairs, gripping the hand rail for support. "Or is it a warlock?"

"_A warlock_? Are you crazy?..." Prue cried in disbelief.

"what's my full name?" Piper asked, "better yet, what's my star sign?" She hated herself for doing so, but reminded herself that this was not the first time a demon had played on their fears and emotions, appearances could not only be deceptive, they could be deadly.

" Piper Elizabeth Rose Halliwell,so called because you have a birth mark on the small of your back in the shape of a Rose, which incedently you used to pretend was a tattoo when we were in High School.and you're a libra. For godsakes, I practically ran all the way here, worrying out of my mind about what Shax might have done to you and Phoebe, and when I get here I have to play 20 questions, what is this?" Prue felt her temper begin to flare up.

"It is you, you _are_ real" Piper's eyes filled with tears as she finally stepped towards her sister.

"Wait a minute_! I'm real_? What's that supposed to mean? Of course _I'm real_.."

Now it was Prue's turn to become distrusting. She began to back away, in doing so she took in the surroundings properly for the first time.

"That wall, why is it pink? it was yellow this morning, and your hair, what have you done to your hair? It wasn't that long before…." She stuttered, although her exterior remained calm, inwardly she was beginning to worry, confusion rising in her chest.

"Prue, it's okay I can explain" Piper began. In fact she couldn't explain at all, she had no idea what was happening, but she was acting on instinct, and her instinct was to reassure Prue.

"..and who are you? "Prue continued, suddenly remembering Paige "Have I fallen into some alternate reality?"

"No,… at least I don't think so" Piper admitted.

"Then what's going on?" she spluttered, her voice beginning to tremble as panic set in, the smooth exterior was beginning to crumble, and she looked genuinely frightened.

"Prue you need to calm down, and tell me, what is the last thing you remember?"

"I remember you lying on the ground, and then Shax coming after me, then I must have blacked out because next thing I know I was lying on the floor of some warehouse outside of town, wearing these rags"

"Ok, it's all ok, I am sure there must be some kind of explanation" Piper began to pace up and down, wracking her brains in attempt to try and make some kind of sense of the situation . "Let's think about this.."

Prue took a further step backwards, crashing into the coffee table, causing the TV remote to fall to the floor, which turned off the mute button.

"TODAY'S NEWS HEADLNES" the New's readers voice came booming out of the TV and seemed to resonate around the room "ON MONDAY MAY 2ND 2005".

Prue went deathly pale "It's 2005!" she yelled as Paige frantically dived to turn the sound down

"I've come to the future! how did I come to the future?"

"No sweetie, this is the present, we know way too much about time travel and I can assure you that this is the present..," Piper soothed "CHRIS, CHRIS"

"Mom?" Chris materilaised in the centre of the room "seriously, mom I was just about to…"he glanced at the room "…_is that aunt Prue_?" he finished rather dramatically.

"Yeah, I know, look I need you to get dressed, orb to Elderland and ask your father and the rest of them about what the hell is going here"

"Sure, whatever you say" Chris orbed out.

"Did he just call you mom?" Prue interrupted

"yes"

"I knew it, this _is_ some bizarre universe"

"No, Prue, it really isn't…. Paige, can you go fetch Phoebe immediately please"

"But, She..." Paige began at last finding her voice

"..I said _now_ Paige" Paige knew better than to argue, and simply orbed out in the direction of the TV studios.

"So let me get this straight, if this is the present then 4 years have passed since we fought Shax?" Prue attempted to establish some facts.

"Yes, Prue I think you need to sit down" Piper wrapped her arm around her and lead her over to the sofa, wondering exactly how much to reveal, and how to do it.

"How the hell did I end up in 2005?"

Piper merely shrugged.

"So I've been missing for 4 years?" the eldest charmed one continued.

"_missing_..um..not exactly.."

"Come on Piper, you don't need to lie to me, I saw the way you greated me just now, it was as if you hadn't seen me for a long long time"

"Oh right" Piper averted her eyes.

"what is it? Has future me emigrated to some far distant country, have I become estranged from you guys, or did I cross over to the dark side?"

"No" Piper said cautiously

" I mean the only other explanation" Prue continued "would be if…if…I ..were…."

"dead" Piper finished.

"But of course that's impossible,.." she paused, waiting for her sister to agree, to laugh and tell her that her future self was at work in Australia, or was being held captive by terrorists deep within the heart of the amaonian rainforrist, anything.

"_You thought I was dead?_"

"we didn't just _think_ you were dead ..we saw you.." Piper blurted, she really really didn't want to have this conversation.

"How could you think I was dead?"

"Like I said, we saw you, not breathing, or moving , just lying on the floor, trust me Prue, it was my worst nightmare brought to life, I was _not _imaging it "

"I don't understand, I can't be dead, I'm here, I'm alive, I'm breathing!"

"No, I don't understand either at the moment, but hopefully Leo and the other Elders' will know what has happened"

"Leo's an Elder?"

"Yes, it's a long story"

"Okay" Phoebe's voice could be heard , as her and Paige orbed into the Hall "Can someone please tell my why I was dragged half way across town, during a commercial break 'cos missy Paige here is refusing to.." Phoebe rounded the corner "...say..why….oh my god, Prue!"

Phoebe flung herself into her oldest sisters arms without a moments hesitation. "You're here, you're alive, oh my god"

"Phoebe" Prue hugged her youngest sister tightly, "Look at you," she attempted a smile "all grown up!"

"You are real aren't you" she asked, "I'm not hallucinating?" she turned to Piper.

"No, you're not hallucinating" Piper beamed.

"This is amazing. Gosh I feel so giddy right now" Phoebe exclaimed.

Paige stood observing this happy reunion, feeling strangely out of place. She wondered if anyone would notice if she orbed out of there. Seeing Prue there in the flesh was almost like some outerbody experience, as if she was dreaming the whole scene. She pinched her arm. Nope, she was definitely awake. As if to further the point, her phone began to ring.

"sorry" she apologised to the room at large,she grabbed the handset and silenced the thing.

The trio on the sofa jumped, as if finally remembering that there was a fourth person in the room.

"Prue" Piper stood up " We need to introduce you to someone very important" She beckoned Paige to move forward. Prue looked at the young woman with the pale complexion who appeared to be shaking slightly, she had orbed earlier, _was she their new whitelighter or something? _

"This is Paige" Piper was saying "our baby sister"

Paige felt Prue's eyes on her

"Our baby _what?"_ Prue asked, wondering if she had momentarily misunderstood and confused 'baby sitter' with 'baby sister', but then logically why would Piper be introducing a baby sitter? 

"Our little sister" Phoebe clarified, wrapping her arms around Paige's shoulders "you know how mum and Sam had this thing..it's a long story"

"Oh" Prue commented, apparently taking this revelation in her stride. " It's uh nice to meet you" she struggled to her feet.

"Same here" Paige extended an arm and awkwardly they shook hands. 

The sound of silence was broken by orb lights which deposited Sam into the room.

"Hi" He called, " Prue! So it is true! Good to see you!"

"Hi" Prue said in a small voice, _shouldn't he be dead, after the whole sea monster vanquish?Hell, that's nothing to go by I suppose, after all, I'm supposed to be dead.  
_  
"What are you doing here?" Paige asked relieved to have something other than Prue to focus her attention on.

" I came to collect you"

"Collect me?"

"Haven't you heard the call? All Whitelighters are being mobilised, we're on red alert, we need to get up to Elderland now"

"What for?" Paige asked, she had heard the call but had chosen to ignore it, given the events currently being played out in the manor.

"What for?" Sam looked at his daughter, wondering if she had lost her mind "For A Jamboree" He deadpanned "Your eldest sister, one of the charmed ones has suddenly returned from the apparent dead. The elders need to find out what happened, and find out fast, hence they need our help"

"well I can't go, I need to stay here"

"Paige"

"Sam, I said no"

"Alright" He knew there was no reasoning with her " But if the elders physically recall you, don't say I didn't warn you"

"Fine"

"Tell Leo, that if the Elders are using Whitelighters to play supernatural detectives, I do not want Chris going to the underworld alone, and that is an order" Piper interrupted.

"Will do." Sam agreed. " I'll see you later, and Paige? You can't keep ignoring the call because it's a bad time" with that he orbed out.

"Sorry about that" Paige felt the need to apologise again. Why was she apologising it wasn't here fault that Sam had dropped by?

Prue sat rubbing her temples

"are you ok?" Piper asked concerned.

"My head just keeps throbbing , I feel like I've been hit by a truck or something"

"why don't you go have a nice lie down" Piper suggested.

"and a bath" Phoebe added, indicating the mud on Prue's cheek and the torn clothes.

"I don't know…"

"You should" Piper cajoled, "and then perhaps when you have finished we will have some answers for you"

"I guess I could" Prue stood up slowly, "you still have my room right?" _it was just a courtesy question, of course they would still have her room, if Paige was living here then they would have given her the guest room surely? Admittedly the guest room was half the size, the light wasn't very good and there wasn't room for a double bed, but still._

There was another awkward pause. The silence answered her question. In fact if the whole situation wasn't so confusing, Prue would have found the scene terribly funny as the 3 younger siblings quickly exchanged glances at each other as if to decide who should tell her.

"It's sort of actually kind of Paige's room" Phoebe explained.

"But you can still use it its fine" Paige blurted, not wanting to be unwittingly the source of dispute.

" I see" Prue's tone was neutral. " I suppose I have been gone 4 years, a bit silly of me to think that you would keep it empty" There was a note of sadness in her voice.

"Go on up" Piper gave her a little push toward the stairs. "you'll feel much better, and then we can try and make sense of all this together."

"okay" Prue said almost hesitantly. Slowly she made her way up the stairs. She paused at the top, and leant over the balcony to listen to the conversation that had resumed in the living room.

"Do you think it is the genuine Prue?" Phoebe was asking "Just because it looks like Prue and talks like Prue doesn't mean it is her"

"I believe it is her" Piper replied "She knew things a demon wouldn't"

"Then what's happening, I mean how did she come back to us?" Phoebe continued

"This is all freaking me out" Paige interupted

" I have no idea "Piper replied, "but whatever it is, it's obviously very powerful magic. I just hope the Elders find an explanation…."

XXX

Prue awoke from her nap and for a second thought that everything was normal. Then she noticed the artist easel in the corner, the framed photos of Paige and some young girl on the walls and a rather questionable lamp, and it all came rushing back to her.

She was in the future, (or so it seemed to her at any rate), which was actually the present. And she was dead. Well, not dead, that was impossible surely, but for some reason her sisters seemed to think she had died.

She blinked at the digital clock on the bedside table. 1.30pm? she had been asleep for nearly 5 hours. No wonder she felt rested. She swung her legs round out of bed, took two steps forward and was immediately flung backwards by a beam of whitelight.

"Hey" she shouted "Can some one deactivate the crystal cage please?"

"Sorry about that" Phoebe came running in about 30 seconds later, clutching a bundle of clothes."forgot about that"

"Why did you put me in a cage?" Prue was indignant

"We thought it would be safest, until we know what was going on"

"Right"

"So, did you sleep okay?"

"Surprsingly well actually"

"These are for you" She handed Prue a pair of jeans, a top and some underwear

"well this is a change, me borrowing clothes from you."

"Indeed"

"Can I ask you something?"

"sure, silly it's still me!"

"mind telling me why your name is on the side of a bus?"

Phoebe laughed. "I'm an advice collumist for the Bay Mirror"

"_you're_ an advice columnist?"

"Bet you never thought you'd see the day huh!"

"well you never did like listening to any of my advice. Things must have changed"

"yeah and that's not the only thing"

"PHOEBE" Piper stuck her head round the door. "Elise is on the phone and she's mighty pissed about something"

"Great" Phoebe groaned. "She probably wants to know why I left the tv studios and never came back. This should be good"

"hey" Piper entered the room fully, baby Victor on her hip "how you feeling?"

"A bit better thanks" Prue noticed the baby "wow…is he yours?"

"yeah, this is Victor, Victor this is your aunty Prue"

"He's precious! Can I hold him?"

"here" Piper handed him to her sister, her eyes tearing up slightly at the sight that she never thought she would see.

"hello baby, aren't you just the cuteist" she cooed, bouncing him on her lap.

The baby looked up at her with his big green eyes. He seemed to be considering whether he knew this strangely familiar looking lady. Deciding that she was one of the good guys, he reached out and grasped her finger in one of his tiny hands.

"he seems taken with you" Piper commented.

"yeah..hey?" Prue puzzled as the dummy that Victor had been sucking suddenly disappeared from his mouth. "where'd that go?"

"WYATT!" Piper roared "YOU RETURN THAT DUMMY RIGHT NOW"

No sooner had the words left her mouth than Wyatt orbed into the room, a sulky expression on his usually angelic face, clutching his brother's dummy in his hand.

"Thank you" Piper retrieved it and handed it back to the baby.

"and this", she continued "is Wyatt. Wy say hello to your aunty Prue"

"hewo pwoo" came the reply.

"Look at him!" Prue exclaimed, " he looks like a little angel!"

" don't be fooled" Piper deadpanned.

"I can't believe it, two little boys!"

"Well 3 really, but I guess Chris isn't so little"

"What is the deal with Chris"

"It's another long story"

"I always knew you would be the first to..PIPER" Prue screamed as a minion blazed into the room.

" _not again_" Piper turned round and blew him up with an almost lazy flick of her wrist.

"Jeez, you certainly got the hang of that new power of yours" Prue was in awe

"New Power?"

"yeah to blow things up, you just got it remember right after…." She stopped "right! It was 4 years ago" she admonished herself.

"Sweetie it's okay, all this will take a bit of getting used to"

" I know"

"Look, I'll leave you to get dressed and then we'll have a proper talk, okay ? we have so much to catch you up on"

"OK" Prue hated feeling foolish. "wait aren't you going to ID the demon?"

"No, we know whats going on, it's the same one as before, and they are tomorrows problem"

Piper balanced Victor back on her hip and grabbed Wyatt by the wrist. "Come on babies, lets give aunty Prue some pivacy" she sing songed as she lead them out of the door.

XXX

30 minutes later a freshly showered Prue descended the stairs to the bottom floor. She entered the living room expecting to see Piper but instead found Paige.

"where is everyone?" she asked.

"um, Pipers putting the boys down for a nap, and Phoebe's still on the phone with Elise, some conference call" Paige felt herself involuntarily flush as she spoke. _What was going on with her? it was only Prue, not a Royalty or something._

"What's with the candles?" Prue pointed to the pile on the coffee table.

"Piper wants us to summon mum and Grams, see if they have any answers" Paige explained, concentrating hard on getting her words out without stuttering.

"I see"

Silence.

_It was funny_ Paige thought, glancing sideways at her oldest sister, _how short Prue_ _was_. All the talk of Prue Halliwell super witch, had lead her to imagine Prue to be this tall commanding presence which struck fear into the heart of demons and men everywhere, but in reality she was tiny, Paige herself not the tallest person in the world, towered a good 3 inches over her.

"Can I um, ask you a question?" Paige asked nervously, this matter had been bugging her since this morning, and she figured now was a good a time as any to ask, especially since the alternative was to sit in awkward silence until either Piper or Phoebe returned.

"Yes" Prue responded, glad of the opportunity to talk to this newly aquiered little sister.

"I might be completely making this, up or imaging it or I don't know, but you didn't seem overly shocked when Piper and Paige introduced me earlier, I mean compared with how they reacted when they found out."

Prue smiled, "nothing get's past you does it?"

"I'm sorry I shouldn't be so nosey, asking you questions and all when your

So confused and everything.." Paige began to babble nervously

" I always wanted to go to Camp" Prue said simply, cutting off Paige in mid babble.

"huh?" it was Paige's turn to be confused.

"Every year I asked Grams if I could go, and every year she said no. Then, the year I was 7, I came home from school one day and Grams called me into the kitchen and told me that this summer Piper and I were to go on a little holiday, and that we could either go stay with Aunt Majorie or we could go to camp. I was so happy, I thanked Grams, but she said it was mom's idea. I ran upstairs to thank her too, but her room was empty, she was on the phone down the hall. So I waited and waited, but I got a little bored. I noticed her make up on her dresser, and I just couldn't resist myself, I painted my face, and in doing do probably ruined several of her best lipsticks. I heared mom hang up the phone and I panicked, I thought that if she saw me, saw what I had done then she would change her mind and wouldn't let me go to camp. It was too late to run out of the room, she would catch me, so I dived under the bed. She came in and began getting changed to go to work..she took her blouse off and I noticed her stomoch, it was all swollen. The last time I remembered seeing her like that had been 2 years before, when she had explained that our new little sister Phoebe was inside of her. I was confused, because I didn't remember her telling us anything about having another little sister. She finished getting changed and went out. I didn't say anything, and a month later Piper and I went off to Camp Skylark. When I came home, mom was thin again, and there was no new baby, I began to think that I had imagined it. Later after mom died, nothing was mentioned about another sister, and when Grams eventually passed away without revealing anything, I became convinced that I had indeed made it all up. Until today that is."

"You knew? All these years?" Paige was amazed

"I had an idea, I didn't know for sure"

"So you.."

"FINALLY" Phoebe groaned as she entered the living room cutting off the conversation, "Elise wouldn't let me go, good job she was paying the bill. Did I interrupt something?"

"No" Paige said at exactly the same as Prue shouted 'Yes"

Phoebe looked at them and raised an eyebrow. "are we all set?" she asked deciding to speak to Paige about it later.

"Yep." Paige waived the candles "apart from.."

"..me" Piper finished, entering the living room. "Ok, Prue I think you should wait over there out of sight, then you can step forward when you get your cue, give mom and Grams a surprise.."

"Alright" Prue hesitantly trundled into the alcove,. She hated taking orders, but this whole situation was so confusing, it was easier for someone else to take control, besides she wondered what exactly Piper was planning on doing

"Good". Piper gathered her younger sisters in a circle

"Here these words, here my cry

Spirit from the otherside,

come to me,

I summon thee,

cross now the great divide"

a swirling of bright lights deposited Patty and Penny into the centre of the circle.

"Girls" Patty exclaimed, excited to see her daughters.

Penny upon noticing her Granddaughters lined up in a row, their arms folded, looks of determination on their faces, appeared less enthusiastic to be back on earth.

"You called?" She said cautiously.

"Yes" Piper declared. "We need to have a little chat….".

XXX

TBC


	10. La verité s'il vous plait

Disclaimer: I own nothing to do with Charmed!

**Chapter 10: La verité s'il vous plaît**

High above in the white fluffy mists of elderland, Chris waited patiently on the edge of a cloud. The whitelighters had been dismissed about an hour ago, and now only a few last stragglers remained. A knot of them, Leo included stood to the left of him, saying their final goodbyes, and trading stories, before orbing down to earth. Leo noticed his younger son looking pensive, broke away from the group to go join him.

"every thing finalised?" he asked his father without lifting his eyes from the horizon.

"yes"

"and they are 100 sure?"

"you know as well as I do Chris, nothing is ever completely sure, but they are sure enough for us to tell the girls"

"they're not going to like it"

"maybe not, but we can't alter what happened, and the main point is that Prue is back."

"I guess"

"I say we go put your mother and aunts out of their misery"

"I don't know if now would be such a good time"

"why not?"

"I sense Grams and Grandma, they must have summoned them"

"You're right. Lesson number 1 in this family, never get between the Halliwell women when they are having an argument, it's pure suicide. Perhaps we had better wait a while….."

XXX

"So what did you want to talk about dear?" Grams tried and failed miserably to inject a light airy tone into her voice.

"About Prue" Piper responded

"Prue? What about Prue?" Patty seemed confused.

"Well we've been thinking.." Phoebe began

"…. and seeing how it's been nearly 4 years " Piper continued " we think it's a good time that you let us see her, we're ready now, and Paige has never met her.."

"I don't know, it may not be a good idea" Penny attempted to deter them.

"Why not?" Piper was insistant

"I still don't think your ready" Penny rolled out her list of standard excuses "How do you know that seeing her won't set you back, especially as you've all moved on in your lives."

"hmmmm..perhaps you're right" Piper appeared to be placated.

"Of course I am dear, aren't I always" Penny was secretly reliaved that the subject had been dropped so quickly..

"Yeah"Phoebe chimed in, "Grams knows whats best for us, she would _never_ lie to us"

"That's true" Paige agreed, enjoying the way that Grams was obviously uncomfortable on this topic and was trying not to show it.

"Was that the only reason you brought us down here?" Patty attempted to rescue her mother before she said too much.

"No, actually, there's some one we'd like you to meet" Piper told her.

"Really?" Now Grams was surprised.

"Yeah, come out come out wherever you are" Piper sing songed..

Prue guessing that this was to be her cue stepped around the corner.

"_Prue_", Patty ran forward knocking the candles left and right and grabbed Prue by the arms hugging her eldest child tightly.

"See now, that's where all this gets a little confusing, because don't you think mom is over reacting slightly, given that she see's Prue everyday?" Piper puzzled out loud to Phoebe in an overly fake voice, as Patty finally relinquished her vice like grip on Prue.

"Alright you got us" Penny caved in

"Well?" Phoebe asked quizzically.

"The reason why we never let you see Prue, is because she wasn't with us in the afterlife" Penny detailed.

"_What?" _all four girls shouted in unison.

"We knew she had died, literally the minute after she hit that wall, news filtered upwards" Patty began, as she stroked Prue's hair.

" This wasn't just you average witch in the street, this was a charmed one. So your mother and I waited for Prue to come join us" Penny continued.

"Except she never came."

"Didn't that ring alarm bells?" Piper interrupted.

"Well no actually. We saw you grieving, we saw the body ourselves. There are plenty of witches who never make it to the afterlife" Patty explained.

"How so?" Paige was intrigued despite herself.

"Some get caught in 'the inbetween', some are actually sent down to hell. So when she didn't reach us, we feared that she was going to be one of these witches." Penny detailed.

"Which is why when you asked if you could see her, we told her that you couldn't see her" Patty added

"Why the hell did you lie to us?" Piper's eyes flashed with anger. "_again_"

Paige blushed involuntarily as once again the stigma of her birth was brought into conversation.

"We had no choice. We saw how you were, the only thing that was keeping you together back then was the thought that Prue was at least being comforted by us." Penny pleaded.

"It's true" Phoebe had to agree, "that was my one positive thought, that at least Prue wasn't alone."

"So how were you going to explain it in say 10, 2 0years down the line?" Piper was impatient.

"I don't know" Patty adimtted, "we would have figured something out.."

"But now we don't need" to Patty finished.

"That still doesn't explain what happened to me" Prue cried

"I'm afraid we can't help there" Penny shrugged her shoulders.

"I guess only Leo can help us there" Phoebe sighed.

A wail from above interrupted the conversation.

"Looks like nap times over" Piper took a step forward

"I'll go!". Penny practically flew up the stairs.

"For a ghost she sure moves fast" Paige joked as she turned back to the group, noticing the tears forming in her mothers eyes.

"Look at you, my girls, all 4 of you, together, I always dreamed that I would see the day"

An awkward smile passed along the girls, who had subconsciously assembled themselves in order from the youngest to the oldest.

"Prue" Patty began to maker he way down the line, touching each of her daughters as she spoke "My brave strong girl, Piper, my sweet thoughtful child, Phoebe my free spirit, Paige my little miracle"

"How have you all been? Paige sweetie are you okay? She cupped her youngest daughters face in her hands.

"I'm fine" Paige bluffed.

"All he wanted was a hug from his great-grams" Grams returned toting baby Victor, "He gets more handsome each time I see him"

You're still not off the hook" Piper told her.

The door bell rang

"I'll get it!" Paige bolted for the door, to avoid the scrutinazing gaze of Patty.

"It's probably Dad and Ben" Phoebe said, just as Victor senior's voice boomed into the hallway

"What's with the cryptic message on my answer machine?" He was asking Paige. "Phoebe telling me to bring Ben home and get over here pronto for some special meeting.."

Ben ran through the door ahead of them. "Mummy! Guess what I did I" he halted in the room, realising it was full of strange people, his natural shyness overcame him

"Well" Penny nudged Patty, indicating Ben "there's no disguising who _his_ father is"

"_Mother!" _Patty hissed

"What? I'm just saying, If you breed with demons…" Penny whispered.

"What's going on?" Victor finally entered the room, his eyes travelling over all the women before finally settling on.."Prue!" he cried.

"Hey Dad" Prue greated him "what's up?" she hugged him.

"Is this for real?" Victor goggled "or is this some kind of wiccan joke?"

"No, I'm for real Dad,don't know how, don't know why, but I'm here"

"She came back to us this morning" Piper explained "we're waiting for Leo and Chris to return with an explanation.

"Huh" Victor processed this information.

The twinkling sound of impending orbs filled the room.

"Perhaps this is them now!" Phoebe exclaimed.

The orb cloud cleared depositing Jo into the centre of the room, Prue instantly recognised her from the photos in Paige's room.

"Busted!" she muttered

"Did you just orb home from School young lady?" Paige attempted to be sturn

"Grandma, Great-Grams!" Jo chose to ignore her mother and ran to Penny for a hug "Great to see you"

"I said, did you just orb home from school? What happened to the good old fashioned bus?" Paige persisted

"What are you doing here anyway shouldn't you be in work?" Jo attempted to deflect her attention

"That is besides the point"

"People! This is a celebration, can we quit the bickering?" Phoebe butted in.

"Yeah" Piper agreed " I think we need to introduce Jo and Ben to their new Aunty Prue."

"_aunty Prue?_ " Jo turned round, "isn't she..?"

"Alive! Yes complelety and untterly _100 not dead_!" Phoebe finished her sentence. "Let's move along shall we. Ben, are you going to come and say hello to aunty Prue?"

"Yours and Cole's" Prue whispered as Ben was coaxed into shaking hands with his eldest aunt.

"Uh-huh, the only good thing to have come out of that marriage" Phoebe replied.

"You actually married him?" Prue goggled.

"Yes, can we not get into it right now, it wasn't the easiest part of my life"

"I'll bet!"

"what you saying about Daddy?" Ben asked.

"ugh" Prue was saved the task of replying by a commotion in the kitchen.

"Dad jeez, I told you mum had moved the centre island why do you never listen" Chris' voice could be heard.

He and Leo appeared in the doorway.

"Well?" Piper asked on behalf of the assembled adults.

"Well" Leo replied "we have an answer…"

XXX.


	11. It's a Long Story II

**Disclaimer: I don't own charmed**

**a/n: Apologies for the slow updates I've been in Italy! Sorry it's a shorty- normal service resumes in chapter 12.**

**Chapter 11 : It's a Long Story II**

"Well, we've spent 2 weeks investigating it" Leo began

"2 weeks?" Pheobe screeched "You've been gone 7 hours!"

"Time moves differently up there" Chris explained "it's either quicker or slower than here on earth, depending on what we wish to accomplish"

"anyway" Leo interrupted, not wanting to delay the agony. "From what we can tell…, Prue didn't die that day"

"Shax was a double agent, working for both the source and for another demon, let's just call him the Mystery Demon. The Source wanted the Charmed Ones dead, the Mystery Demon wanted or rather _needed_ at least one of them alive, as he intended to to kidnap whoever he could, quite what his ultimate plan was, we don't know, very few of his followers remain alive, and those who do were not very receptive to our line of questioning" Chris continued

"When Prue hit the wall, the force of the collision was enough to cause her to involuntarily astral project, her astral projection was also knocked unconscious. It was a hard blow, but not enough to kill her." Leo said

"But we saw her!" Piper cried "Just one of her! And she most definitely did not have a pulse. You said it yourself, that she was dead, you looked me in the eyes and said, ' I can't heal the dead"

"and I thought she was..but I was wrong"

"but…"

"Mom just let him explain!" Chris admonished

"As I was saying, for the briefest of seconds there were two Prue's astral Prue and real Prue. As real Prue was unconscious and unable to control her mind, astral Prue mirrored whatever happened to her counter part. The invisibility demon, or InvisiMon, was waiting in the wings. He had been hired by Shax to take Prue back to the underworld. He had 5 seconds to chose which Prue…, had he choson her astral projection, things may have been very different…. Unfortunately for us, he picked the real Prue, and whisked her away. Which is why, by the time I reached her, there was only one Prue"

"But her pulse? "Phoebe commented " did he cast some illusion over us to think that she was dead?"

"No it was far simpler than that" Chris explained "It was opium. He injected Real Prue with opium."

"Opium?"

"Opium when injected in the right amount slows the heart and the breathing down so slowly that on first inspection the person appears to be dead" Leo added

"But the doctors would have noticed! When we took her to the hospital…"

"They would have, but by the time you took astral Prue to the hospital, real Prue really had stopped breathing"

"huh? But you said she didn't die?"

"She didn't" Leo was beginning to get exasperated by the girls' inability to let him finish. "The InvisiMon took real Prue to the lair of the Glaciere demon **( a/n : this is my name for the demon in Vaya con Leos, as I can't remember what his name was**). The Glaciere demon had a pod ready and waiting, and within minutes of their arrival, he had frozen real Prue. Which, before you ask, is why you never noticed that astral Prue was an astral projection, because the 'projection' was never able to return to Prue's body. This is what you buried."

"Then how did I get out?" Prue asked, amazed that all this had happened to her, yet she had no recollection of it.

"The lair, and every person and object inside it was protected by some of the most powerful kind of dark magic known to us, rendering is 'unplottable' on the demonic map. When you girls killed Zankou, and the Nexus was destroyed, the magical explosion was enough to break the forces protecting the lair, and those protecting the pods."

"we vanquished Zankou nearly 3 months ago" Paige exclaimed

"Freezing people isn't an exact science. It appears that it took all this time for Prue to 'thaw out'. This morning when it seemed as if Prue was near to regaining consciousness, she was brought above ground and set free."

"I don't understand, why did the 'Mystery' Demon want Prue?" Piper wondered.

"like I said, I don't know" Leo repeated, "some people think that he was planning some kind of demonic _coup d'état_, to take over the underworld from the Source, we're still investigating, but we thought you'd want to know the main facts"

"I can't believed I was frozen" Prue exclaimed, "No wonder my head hurt…"

"I can't believe you were alive all these years and we didn't know" Phoebe cried

"I'm gonna hunt him down and so help me god blow up his demonic ass" Piper vowed.

Paige, as previously remained oddly silent.

"None of that matters, not for the moment at least" Penny cut-in.

"Mother's right" Patty agreed, "all that matters at the moment is that all four of you are back together "

"That's right" Penny said "One big happy family." She glanced round at the room at everyone who despite themselves were smiling, excited that Prue had been returned to them. If some one had dared to take a closer look, they might have seen that the smile didn't quite reach Paige's eyes.

Coming soon –Chapter 12: look what tomorrow brings


	12. Look what tomorrow brings

**Disclaimer: I don't own charmed**

**Chapter 12: Look what tomorrow brings**

The next morning Piper was very nearly run over by Paige as she entered the kitchen to heat a breakfast time bottle for the baby.

"woa, where do you think you're going missy?" She asked, as her baby sister engaged in her daily round of hunt the car keys.

"meeting kyle for breakfast" came the hurried reply.

"Kyle?"

"Yeah, you know Kyle, the guy I'm semi-seeing, the long lost father of my child…"

"I know who Kyle is thank you very much, I mean what are you going to see him for? Our eldest sister has just returned from the dead, and we have some kind of demon on the loose, and you schedule a date? Can't it wait?"

"It's not a date! And no I can't, he rang last night and said that he needed to speak to me about something, and I need to talk to him about something and.."

"Paige.."

"what? Look I'm just an orb away if the demon turns up!"

"Morning" A sleepy Prue trundled into the kitchen,

"Hi, bye" Paige cried as she raced out the door.

"where's she going?" Prue asked.

"don't ask! How did you sleep?"

"Phoebe still kicks" Prue offered by way of a reply.

"That good huh!"

"Yeah!"

"so how does it feel?"

"How does _what f_eel?"

"To be given a new start, a new shot at life.."

"That's the thing, I didn't know I was techinically dead, I 've been told that all this stuff happened to me, but it's hard to accept that it really did happen,…in someways it doesn't feel like a new life, not just yet, more like a continuation of my old one…"

"It'll take time for us all to get used to the situation…"

"I know, especially as my whole identity, my job, my friends, they're all gone as the whole world thinks I'm dead"

"I think the Elder's need to have a word with the Cleaners' about that, decide what they're going to do"

"I don't even want to think about that, every time I try to make sense of things, it just makes my head hurt"

"Well, a lot has happened"

"You tell me, new sisters, kid's, décor, clothes…but one thing does intrigue me more than anything…"

"what?"

"what's the deal with this Chris?..."

Piper laughed "it's a very interesting story…"

XXX

"Hi" Paige stood in Kyle's doorway , she glanced down and noticed that ironically he was wearing the same clothes that he had the day in the restaurant when she dropped the whole long lost daughter bombshell. She smiled to herself as she noticed that this time, Kyle was the one who was visibly nervous. Not that she herself was calm, not with what she needed to tell him at any rate.

"Coffee?" He waved a jug at her.

"Please"

Kyle downed what was clearly his 4th mug.

"I've got something to tell you" They both blurted in unison.

"You first" Paige said, hoping to buy herself sometime as they both moved into Kyle's living area.

"No you first" Kyle insisted

"No, really it's ok" She repeated.

"Ok" Kyle took a deep breath

_Great_, thought Paige, _he's about to ditch me, or rather us, good job Jo still doesn't know who he really is.._

"I need to ask you something, and I need you to tell me the truth"

"Yes" Paige said simply, looking at the serious expression on his face

"Do, you…do you believe in Magic?"

If he hadn't have been so serious Paige would have burst out laughing at the hilarity of it all.

"Yes" she smiled "Kyle, I.."

"Good, good" He continued. " that's really good, because what I'm talking about is proper magic, none of this riding on your brooms, pointy hat wearing , abracadabra nonsense, but real good verses evil magic.."

"Yes, the thing is , I.."

"because" Kyle inetrupted. " I figured that if I am to play a part in Jo and ultimately your life, then it's best you know the truth about me….I'm a whitelighter…that's a kind of guardian angel for witches.."

"ha"

"look I know this is huge, but yes witches exist and demons exist ," Kyle detailed, mistaking Paige's attempt to stifle a giggle as a cry of shock.

"Funny you should say that because…"

" and they battle each other, it's like a whole different society, complete with it's own hierarchy, at the top are the elders kind of like gods or leaders, then us, the white lighters, then your average witch on the street..oh and in between you have the legendary Charmed Ones.."

"um, Kyle, seriously can I just.."

"…of course very few people come into direct contact with the Charmed Ones, who are a trio of the most powerful witches in the world, I'd love to meet them one day..but anyway that's not important right now, what's important is that I really think that.."

"_KYLE!_" Paige could take it no longer. " You don't have to explain anymore to me..of all people"

"What do you mean?" Kyle was confused

"what I mean is_.. book_…" Paige called as a dog eared copy of the Da Vinci Code came flying into her hands from a nearby shelf.

Kyle's jaw physically dropped a good two inches. "You're a..a _witch_?"

"not only that" Paige grinned "I'm a Charmed One"

"No you're not" Kyle spluttered "You're a , a, a," He paused, as it all clicked into place, a witch with a 'P' name, living in an old Victorian house in the part of San Francisco where the mannor was said to have been located, 2 older sisters…

"My god" he sighed "I feel like an ass…."

"But a very cute ass" Paige smiled "so tell me, how did you get to be a whitelighter…"

XXX

Back at the mannor, a minion who had flamed in halfway through Piper and Prue's catch up conversation, found himself on the receiving end of Pipers wrath.

His entire body was suspended, frozen two feet above the ground, while only his head was able to move.

"_I said_, who is your boss?" Piper tapped her foot against the tiled floor of the kitchen.

"and _I said_ I don't remember"

"you, see I just don't like that answer" Piper flicked her wrist and blew one of his feet off "because one of your lot almost killed my son the other day, and nobody go's after one of my children and lives to tell the tale…so I'll ask you again…who are you working for..?"

Piper's voice was steely, edged with determination, her usually soft brown eyes were cold and emotionless. Prue had never seen her younger sister like this before, but then Piper didn't have children before….

"how were we to know that boy was your son"

"research" Piper spat, blowing off another foot.

"He's called Hechizado" the minion cried as pain began coursing through his body at such a rate he would have done anything to have stopped it.

"Thank you" Piper told her him, before blowing him up completely.

She turned to Prue " I think we need the others"

Prue nodded

"Chris!" Piper yelled "Go get Phoebe for me"

XXX

"….so because of that the Elder's decided I should become a full whitelighter" Kyle finished.

_PAIGE_

Uh oh, Paige heard the unmistakable sound of Piper's voice in her head.

"Kyle , I gotta go"

"But wait, what we need to discuss this.."

"what's there to discuss? You're a whitelighter, I'm a witch.."

"but didn't you want to tell me something?" He asked her retreating orb cloud.

"It can wait til next time" Paige's voice called out.

She materialized in the kitchen to find Piper, Prue , Phoebe and Chris waiting for her.

"Glad to see you made it" Piper drawled

"I came as soon as I could, I couldn't just orb out with out a bye or leave"

"nevermind that" Piper continued " we've found out which demon we need to vanquish"

"do we have a plan?" Phoebe, who had arrived just moments before Paige, asked the room at large.

Prue, feeling the old adrenalin rush of a demon hunt, come running back to her opened her mouth to speak , but was beaten to it by Piper.

"Yep, you" She pointed at Phoebe " need to write a spell, I'll sry for his location, you" she pointed at Paige, need to make the potion, and _you_" her gaze settled on Chris, "need to go to work"

"work?" he squeeked, " as in P3?"

"um, yes, unless you have some other job that I don't know about?"

"No, mom, I need to stay here and help you"

"No, Chris, you don't, you're not our whitelighter anymore, you're simply my son, and I would rather you were out of harms way."

"But mom"

"no but's Christopher, we coped just fine before you came back, and we can cope just fine again…go, please, and drop your brothers and Ben off at magic school enroute"

"fine" Chris sulked, grabbing his jacket and orbing outwards.

"Don't think I won't ground you for insolence young man" she shouted in his wake

"Piper" Phoebe hissed "this is really not the time"

"You're right!" Piper agreed "onwards and upwards"

The three younger sisters headed up stairs, Prue trailing wordlessly behind them.

_It's fine_ she reassured herself, _Piper probably just dosen't want you to over do it, that's why she didn't assign you a role. After all, I have the most useful active power, she most likely just want's me to rest until the showdown._

Reaching the attic, Prue plopped herself down on Aunt Pearl's sofa to watch as the others sprang into action. She looked on in awe as Phoebe began scribbling a spell without a second glance at a rhyming dictionary or asking the others for a second opinion. Over at the table, Paige was tossing ingredients instinctively into the potion pot, as if it were so second nature to her that she no longer needed to look things up in the book of Shadows.

_They certainly have come along way in 4 years_ she thought

"Found him" Piper's scrying crystal hit the map with a small thud. "Do we have a potion?"

"Yep" Paige finished corking 3 bottles

"spell?"

"All done" Phoebe waved the piece of paper.

"Let's go" Piper beckoned them.

"About time" Prue jumped up.

"Uh Sweetie, where are you going?" Piper asked her older sister.

"Um, to kick some demon ass?" Prue ventured, wondering if vanquishing protocol had also changed in the past 5 years, and that they now followed some kind of bizarre chivalric code whereby both parties would hold fire until the otherside was ready to fight.

"I don't think that's a good idea, you're still recovering , and with all due respect, are slightly out of practice" Piper replied.

"But, I.."

"yeah honey it's okay, let us see to this" Phoebe interrupted. "You just rest"

"..don't mind" Prue trailed off as her sisters linked hands and orbed upwards.

"unbelievable" she spluttered, returning to the couch "absolutely unbelievable, they left me, they went to a vanquish with out me.." Her desire to be with her sisters was so overwhelming, that completely without meaning to, she astral projected out of the attic.

She found herself landing down in a cave in the underworld. Ducking behind a large rock, she could hear the sounds of a battle going on toward the far end. She lifted her head up to peak over the top. Phoebe was levitating upwards to miss the fire balls, throwing potion viles at the demons from on high, Paige was tking the fire balls back at their owners, meanwhile Piper was blowing up minions left right and centre. As the battle reached it's cresciendo, the sisters came together and vanquished the leader with a power of 3 spell.

"Nice work ladies" Piper cried as the demon exploded into millions of tiny parts.

"a pleasure as usual" Phoebe commented, pulling her sisters into a 3 way hug.

Diving back behind the rock to avoid being seen, Prue felt hollow inside, as if she had been stabbed in the stomouch. _They don't need me_, she thought, a single solitary tear rolling down her check. _They replaced me and moved on…I shouldn't even be here…_were her last thoughts as her astral self moved to rejoin with her actual self, before anybody noticed that she was gone.

XXX


	13. Casting Petty Jealousies into Darkest ni

**a/n: This might be the last up-date for a while**

**Chapter 13: Casting Petty Jealousies into Darkest night.**

Prue was going stir crazy. It had been 5 days since the vanquish of the hechizado demon, yet to her it seemed like 5 months. The elders were taking their sweet time in deciding how best to reintroduce her to San Francisco society, which meant while the jury was still out, she had to remain indoors, to avoid the risk of being seen by the people she knew.

If that wasn't enough, her sisters were driving her insane. Paige it appeared was avoiding her, or if not avoiding her, then definitely keeping her distance, for what reason god only knew. At the other end of the scale Piper and Phoebe were wrapping mollycoddling her to no end, continuously asking her if she was ok, refusing to let her help them with anything, ignoring her insistences that she was fine. When Prue had attempted to speak to Piper about the whole 'who does what in a demon hunt now I'm back' scenario, infuriatingly her younger sister had told her 'not to worry, we've got it under control'.

So it came to be that Prue was sat in the breakfast alcove , sipping on a mug of coffee, relishing in the peace and quiet of having the house to herself-Phoebe was at the television studios, Victor had the kids overnight , Piper and Chris had gone to take an early delivery at P3….

However Prue wasn't the only witch to think she was alone in the house. Paige shuffled into the kitchen, unaware of Prue's presence, and began pouring herself a cup of tea.

"Coffee's already in the pot if you prefer" Prue called out from her hiding place.

"Shit!" Paige orbed in and out in surprise "You nearly gave me a heart attack"

"Sorry, just thought I'd save you a job"

"No, it's ok, I don't think I 'd better drink coffee" Paige muttered, as she filled her mug with a herbal drink. She paused, unsure of what to do, if she stayed here then she would have to talk to Prue, if she left then it would be a deliberate snub.

"You can go if you want" Prue called, as if she had read Paige's mind. "I won't be offended..but just so you know, I don't bite"

"Don't be silly" Paige headed toward the alcove. Pulling up a chair opposite Prue, she sat, her eyes fixed on the mug the entire time.

"See if I was a cynical person, I would say you've been avoiding me" Prue stated.

"No" Paige said, a little too loudly "No, I mean, I've got a lot of things on my plate at the moment, I need a bit of time to get my head round them…"

"I see"

" I mean, you know how it gets around here with all the kids and the noise, I just need a little breathing time to collect my thoughts.."

"You know Paige, I may have only known you for like 6 days, but I can still tell you're hiding something"

The silence seemed to answer her question.

"If you ever want to talk…I.."

"I'm not the only one!" Paige interrupted, "You've been pretty quiet yourself as of late, and if what the stories Piper and Phoebe have told me are true, then you must be hiding something too"

"Perhaps I am"

"whuh?" Paige hadn't been expecting that response.

"I said, perhaps you're right, there has been something that has been annoying me this past week"

"oh" The wind was taken out of Paige's sails.

"Truth be told I'm kind of glad you're here, I could do with someone to talk to"

Paige looked half amused, half terrified "What about Phoebe and Piper?" she asked "They're your sisters, why can't you talk to them?"

"They aren't my sisters. I hardly know them any more"

"Phoebe and Piper? That's ridiculous, of course they're, your, well, _our_ sisters"

"They are so far removed from the sisters I left behind that they are almost like strangers. You wouldn't understand, you didn't grow up with them, and I don't mean that as an insult, it's just the truth" Prue looked up at Paige, who seemed to be processing this sudden revelation.

" Phoebe for example" she continued " always the youngest, immature, never held down a job for more than a couple of weeks, forever borrowing money, clothes, cars, hopping from one unsuitable guy to the next, not always living on the correct side of the law, fiery tempered , quick to get into an argument with me or Grams or any other authority figure…..look at her now, a career woman with a high profile steady job, a minor celebrity no less. A mother, a peacemaker, has a bigger and better wardrobe than I do, …"

"all that she went through with Cole forced her to grow up a lot" Paige said, forgetting that Prue didn't yet know the extent of what Phoebe and Cole had been through.

"And Piper" Prue's voice softened " My little Piper, always so timid, self-doubting, hated fights, rarely shouted, ever the follower, never the leader, always needed someone to look after and protect her, first grams, then me, then Leo..they were just a couple of newly weds when I left..when I saw her the other day, taking control like that, deciding what to do, commanding everyone, it shocked me, she dictated the orders and you all leapt to do her bidding. I never imagined that she could be like that, that she could have the confidence, to take charge……..and her and Leo, 3 children!.. they've been worn down by time, that newly wedded sparkle, the innocence of youth, is gone…"

"They still love each other greatly" Paige reassured her "…and Piper, she didn't want to be the Big Sister, she even told me as much, but someone had to be the responsible one, keep me and Phoebe in line!..."

"I just didn't think that they could change this much"

"They're still the same people..Pheebs still does marshal arts, is untidy and never keeps the same hair style for more than 5 minutes, Piper still likes calm and order, runs round tidying up after us, frets about a normal life, bakes cookies…"

"I know, but I don't know how to talk to them, how to be with them anymore, it's easier with you, we didn't know each other, I have no preconceived ideas about how you should be.."

"That's easy for you to say"

"why? What did they tell you about me"

"Oh just that you were super witch, the best Sister in the world, perfection personified, thou who could do not wrong…"

"I'm far from that Paige, believe me"

"maybe so, but they idolised you, to the extent that were it not for the fact they ultimately needed me to make up the power of 3, I'm not sure I would have even had a proper place in this family"

"You can't believe that! I've done nothing this past week but feel jealous at how close you 3 are, how well you guys all work to together, and how little I was obviously missed"

"You, were jealous of me!" Paige stifled a laugh "I really have heard everything now!"

"It's not funny!"

"Yes it is, The Great Prue Halliwell Jealous of little old me……well well well" Paige's face grew serious "but honestly, please don't ever question how much you were missed, Piper and Phoebe, they fell apart, Piper, she was nearly consumed by the grief."

"I didn't realise"

"you wouldn't. It has taken them a long time to get to the place where they are now"

A silence fell between them.

"and what about you?" Prue asked, "Fair's fair, I've told you what was bugging me, now what has been bugging you to the extent that you seem to be avoiding everyone?"

Paige could feel the crystal blue eyes gazing at her, she desperately wanted to confide in someone, and Prue was right, it was nice to talk to someone who had no preconceptions about you…."Okay, but you can't tell Phoebe or Piper, not yet"

"Promise"

"I'm Pregnant"

"and this is a bad thing…………….?" Prue was confused.

"No, Yes, I don't know…I'm such an idiot!"

"why?"

"well most people who get pregnant as the result of a one-night stand tend to learn from their mistakes, but no, not only do I manage to do it twice, but by the same bloke no less!"

"But I thought you were dating this Kyle person?"

"I am, sort of, but it's all very complicated , it's all very new, I don't know where we are headed, and this will seriously blow the smoke out of the water.."

"but being a father to Jo hasn't scared him off?"

"well no, not at the moment, but that's because Jo doesn't know who he really is, so he still has a get out clause, plus it's one thing being a weekend dad to 12 year old who can walk talk, feed and clothe themselves, quite another to a baby"

"Have you told him yet?"

"no"

"Well to be fair to the guy, perhaps he needs to be told before you can analyse his actions"

"I've tried, but I don't know how…"

"Why can't you talk to Phoebe and Piper about this?"

"Because Phoebe will come out with some sort of psycho babble that I really don't want to hear, and Piper will act just like my mum did the first time I confessed I was pregnant, and I'll just feel like I screwed up once again"

"You shouldn't feel like that Paige, you're not 15"

"You're right, 15 year olds have more sense.."

"are you going to keep it?"

"I guess so, but I really really wish I didn't have to deal with it right now, not with everything else that is going on too, I just want to stick my head in the sand and make it all go away"

" well I'm afraid real life isn't like that, part of life's rich tapestry is confronting our fears and dealing with them"

"yeah well real life sucks" Paige sulked in a baby voice.

"oh you sound just like a 28 year old!" Prue laughed.

Paige smiled. Prue had been right, it was good to talk, get a new peron's perspective on things.

"Thanks" Paige said

"For what?"

"For.." Paige was cut off by the sudden appearance of Cole, who shimmered into the kitchen, his back to the breakfast nook

"If you're looking for Phoebe, she's not here, she's at work" Paige told his back.

"Do you think you could go get her?" Cole asked as he turned round slowly to reveal a giant red blood stain that was on the front of his shirt, which was growing larger by the second.

"I could really do with her help…" he trailed off before collapsing onto the flag stone floor.

XXX


	14. Brown is the Colour of my true love's ha

**Disclaimer: I don't own charmed!**

**A/n: really bad writers block ( which probably is reflected in the quality of this chapter) – really annoying as I have had this story planned out for ages.**

**Chapter 14: Brown Is the Colour of My True Love's Hair**

By the time Phoebe arrived home, Paige and Prue had managed to move Cole up stairs and lay him down on Phoebe's bed. Stripping him of his blood soaked clothes; they found that he was covered from head to toe with hundreds of 2 inch long gashes, all of which were weeping blood. Cole himself, weak from the blood loss was lapsing in and out of consciousness.

"Why the hell didn't you heal him?" Phoebe demanded as she marched up the stairs

"Don't you think I didn't try?" Paige replied as she ran to keep up "nothing happened"

"That's impossible"

"Quite clearly it isn't"

"Oh my god, Cole!" Phoebe cried as she took in the sight of her ex husband, motionless on the bed, Prue, standing over him a bloody rag in her hand, from her attempts to stem the bleeding.

"Hi" the half demon slowly turned his head toward her.

"What happened to you?"

"Jartum demon…lots..of…attacked…couldn't ..escape"

"Have you looked in the book of Shadows?" Phoebe turned to her sisters.

"No" They replied

"what?"

"seeing as I was orbing to get you, and Prue was trying to stop him bleeding to death, when do you suggest we have the time to look?"

"well, you've got the time now" Phoebe snapped. "give me that" she gestured to Prue's cloth, "You two go look, I'll take over from.."

"Daddy!" Ben appeared as if from nowhere, happy to find that his father was back, but confused as to why he was in bed in the middle of the day.

"Ben go down stairs please" Phoebe commanded.

"But.."

"I said now Ben!"

"Do what mommy says" it took all of Coles energy to string the sentence together, but the last thing he wanted was for his son to see him like this.

"C'mere I'll take you" Prue grabbed his hand and lead him out, Paige following them to find the book of shadows.

XXX

Leo, his work in elderland having been finished for the day, orbed down to earth, sensing for the location of his family. He found them at the mannor, his wife and eldest son in the kitchen, having returned home immediately upon hearing the news about Cole. Bags of food were on the centre island as the two unpacked in tandem Chris listening patiently as his mother barked orders at him.

"those biscuits are stored on the top shelf a little more to the left"

"yeah mom I was just about to move them over"

"well I was just reminding you"

"but I hadn't forgotton"

"so now you doubly won't forget"

"yes, but I also…"

"Hey , how are two of my favourite people?" Leo decided it was time to announce his presence before an argument could brew.

"Fine" Chris snapped.

"as well as can be expected" Piper muttered

"huh?"

"well, given that there is a demon bleeding to death upstairs, acting like a beacon for millions of other demons to come and attack us all at any minute…so as it goes yeah, life is just peachy"

"jeez, mom, firstly give it a break, Cole isn't Baltheazor anymore, and secondly, what is your problem? Demons drop by unannounced all the time…"

"I will have less of your lip young man, and don't you tell me.."

"Piper" Leo cut her off, "why don't you go upstairs and help Prue and Paige ID the demon, Chris and I can look after this"

"Fine"

"what's going on here?" Leo asked once his wife was safely out of earshot.

"well, apparently Cole shimmered in here and then.."

"No, not with that , with you and your mother"

"Like you don't know!"

"no, I don't "

"seriously Dad, I don't know what has gotten into her lately. She's permanently jumpy, a car backed fired a couple of weeks ago and she hit the deck, she gets into a panic at the mere thought of a demon attack, and has a near irrational desire to prevent anyone with a blemished record, from a mortal with a parking fine to a demonic mass murder from coming into contact with us. It's as if she has lost the plot..has she been acting strangely around you?"

_If by refusing to sleep with me, you mean strange_..Leo thought. "now you come to mention it, she has been a little off with me.."

"I think you need to have a word with her, she won't talk to me about it"

"Perhaps I will when the time is right"

"good"

"so how about we do some more work on that extension?"

XXX

"So?" Prue asked her youngest sister as she flipped through the pages of the book of shadows.

"so what?" Paige asked, knowing exactly where this was headed.

"when are you going to tell Kyle?"

"tell Kyle about what?"

"Paige!"

"Okay, okay, see this is exactly why I didn't want to tell anyone, I couldn't cope with the pressure"

"I'm not pressuring you! I just asked when you were going to tell him that you're pregnant.

"Sush! Keep it down will you!"

"Paige seriously you are paranoid"

"who's paranoid?" Piper entered the attic.

"Prue" Paige replied quickly " that someone may have seen her when she took the rubbish bins out the other morning"

"don't be ridiculous" Piper dismissed her with a wave of the hand. "now, where have we got with this demon"

"here" Prue turned the book of Shadows round to Piper could read it "The Jartum demon, claws at his victims, injecting them with poison with each scratch. Wounds cannot be healed by whitelighters, the only cure is to mix a lotion, which must be applied every 30 minutes until the cuts have fused together again. Ingredients include.."

"wolfsbane, silverknuckle, dandy lion, dil weed" Piper interrupted to read aloud.

"I was just about to say that" Prue muttered through gritted teeth.

"Okay, Paige get chopping and I'll heat up the potion pot." Piper took charge again.

Prue through her hands up in the air in frustration and rolled her eyes at Paige, who merely shrugged her shoulders and turned to get the knife and chopping board.

"..and I'll just make like I'm invisible shall i?" Prue hissed.

"You say something?" Piper asked her older sister.

"nothing" Prue collapsed back onto aunt Peals coach. "nothing at all".

XXX

Now that Phoebe had come out of the shock of seeing Cole and had processed what was going on, she felt herself growing angry.

"You know Cole, I don't understand how you could be so bloody selfish" She dabbed violently at the scratches down his arm, wishing ferverantly that the bleeding would stop.

Cole, his strength still waning, could do nothing more than raise an eyebrow in quizical expression.

"I mean" Phoebe continued, relieved that he couldn't answer he back for once. "what were you thinking, going off on this crazy demon hunt…oh but then I forgot..you weren't thinking were you? Or if you were, you weren't thinking about your son, and how he could lose his father "tears began to rise in her eyes, blurring her vision slightly, yet still she continued " how upsetting that would be for him, how difficult that would be…or me….you didn't stop and think about how it would be for me…to think how I could live with out you…of course not" she paused to wipe some of the tears from her nose " as usual, you only think of yourself."

"Phoebe" If only she knew how difficult it was for him to form the words "tell …Ben…that…I ….love ..him ..and..and.."

"No I won't" She shouted, loud enough so that if he had the strength he would have jumped. " I will not tell him, because you will tell him yourself, because you Cole Turner, will not die on us, understand it, you will not be so self centered as to give up the fight and go into the afterlife. You will stay here and fight god dammit."

"Tell" Cole was usuing every last ounce of strength he possed, but he had to get the words out. " tell Ben..I ..love him….and.. you…always …have.." were the last words he uttered before the darkness overtook him.

XXX

TBC


	15. In the still of the night

**I don't own charmed.**

**Chapter 15: In the Still of the Night**

Halliwell Mannor, 3am.

Piper, en route from the kitchen, having warmed up a bottle for the baby, paused at the door to Phoebe's room. Noticing that the door was ajar and light was coming from inside, she stuck her head inside. Phoebe lay curled up in a chair close to the bed, the empty vial of potion that she had used to clean Coles wounds in one hand, a blood smeared cloth in the other, her eyes closed. Cole was still on the bed, his wounds had stopped bleeding, but he had yet to regain consciousness. As much as Piper disliked him, he hoped for Ben's sake more than anything, that he made it through the night. She crept up, pulled a blanket over her little sister, and shuffled back to her own room.

If outwardly Phoebe had appeared to be sleeping calmly to Piper, inwardly she was anything but. In her mind she kept replaying certain scenes between her and Cole, such as when they met, their brief marriage, his numerous vanquishings…but there was one thing that she kept returning to, something he had said the day that he had first brought an injured Ben to her, something that she had completely forgotten about until now.

_Flashback_

_Huh, you didn't waste much time then did you?" Phoebe drawled_

"_What?" Of all the opening lines he had expected, this was not one of them._

"_Get kind of lonely in the wasteland did you? Needed someone to keep that cold heart of your's warm? Or is that you have a girl in every port? Or in your case, every spiritual plane?"_

"_You've really lost me"_

"_Come on Cole, don't play the innocent, I'm not deaf you know, or stupid, contrary to popular belief. I much doubt that he was an immaculate conception"_

"_I seriously don't know..."_

"_His mother" Phoebe enunciated each word "the woman who you were on your way to visit when you got ambushed by the demon, Look at him, he's Wyatts age, which means you soon got over loosing me, quick enough to get some bit of fluff, knocked up within months of our divorce."_

"_Oh" _

"_Do you love her?"_

"_Who?" careful, careful, ice.very.thin.skating.on._

"_You know who. The mother of your son"_

"_You don't want to know"_

"_Yes I do"_

"_Yes I love her. Satisfied?"_

End of Flash back.

He loved her. Even though he would never admit it her face, apart from earlier that evening, and only then because he believed he was about to die..Cole still loved her. She still loved him of course. Not that she had admitted it to anyone, not even herself, but it had always been there, this tiny part of her who longed for him, and wanted him. But now,…now it might be too late.

XXX

"the baby get back to sleep?" Leo asked as Piper climbed back into bed.

"Yep, only problem is is that now I'm wide awake" she grumbled.

"well close your eyes, relax and you'll be asleep in no time"

"nope, that's it these days, once I'm awake I'm awake"

"well" Leo began "I can think of a few things to do to pass the time" he leaned toward and began to kiss her

"Leo" Piper pulled out of the increasingly passionate embrace after about 5 minitues " we need to stop this"

"why? We're two consenting adults, we're married, we have done this before"

"yes and I know, but I don't want to do this right now"

"why not?"

"because….because I don't want to get Pregnant"

"Piper! You don't have to get pregnant , we'll take precautions"

"The only thing that is 100 effective is abstinence" came the reply

" Okay, leo thought, _let's not over react_ "Piper, even if despite all the precautions you were to become pregnant, would it be such a bad thing, we always talked about having more kids"

"Yes it would. Because I, for one don't want to have anymore kids"

"what? Surely you don't mean that!"

"Not, now not ever" Piper getting agitated lept out of bed.

"Piper!" Leo reached for her "come back to bed, let's discuss this"

"There's nothing to discuss, and I think, given that you can't control yourself, it's best that one of us sleeps on the sofa tonight" She opened the wardrobe door and began grabbing the extra blankets and pillows.

"come on, honey.."

"It's okay, I'll go"

Piper exited the room clutching at the spare duvet, slamming the door behind her. Leaving Leo to ponder exactly what had just happened. _Chris is right_, he thought, _there is defiantly something not quite right._

XXX

Paige lay in her bed awake, listening to the sounds of Kyle snoring softly besides her. _At least he's still here_, she thought. To give him his credit he hadn't run away at the news.

She hadn't wanted to tell him, but knowing that Prue wouldn't give her a moments peace until she did, she had plucked up her courage and invited him over that very evening.

_Flashback_

"_there's no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to come out and say it, I'm pregnant"_

"_oh"_

"_Oh? Is that all you've got to say?"_

"_well, it's just one surprise after the next isn't it, what do you want, a cartwheel display?"_

"_No….but I'm keeping it, before you say any anything,"_

"_I wasn't going to suggest otherwise"_

"_you seem remarkabaly calm about all this…"_

"_..what would you like me to do? Freak out, because I don't think that would do either of us any good"_

"_aren't you shocked?"_

"_we have had sex Paige, so shocked would be a little strong, but very very surprised yes"_

_End of flash back_

Then they had talked, and talked, and eventually decided that there was no point in making plans, because things never went according to them anyway, and that the best thing to do would be to muddle along and see how things panned out. The one point they were both agreed on, was that this time around they would both be there for the baby, Elder's and the Greater Good be dammed.

"mum" a voice called from behind the closed bedroom door.

"Yes" Paige began to worry about what Jo was doing up at this time of night.

"Can I come in a minute?"

Paige whipped her head around to double check that Kyle was wearing PJammas. "Yes" she called.

The door opened and Jo shuffled in, the moonlight that was seeping in through the gap in the curtains illuminated her face and Paige could see that she had been crying.

"sweet heart whats wrong?" she asked as Jo dropped into her arms.

"I, I, I had that dream again" Jo sniffled "the one where I was trapped in the car, and dad was trapped in the car, and he was screaming, screaming so loudly, and I wanted to help him, I wanted to help him so badly, but I couldn't reach.."

The horrific nightmares that had pierced Jo's sleep in the weeks and months following the death of her adoptive father had gradually disappeared over time, however often in times of stress or anger they reappeared with a vengence.

"It's okay sweetie" Paige soothed "It's just because you've been upset by what happened to Cole."

"I just want them to go away"

"I know, and they will darling, …oh my poor little baby" she rocked her daughter back and fore

"Baby, what's wrong with the baby?" Kyle awoke with a start. He looked up confused to find Paige and Jo.

"Nothing" Paige said

"That's ok" Kyle breathed "I thought something was wrong with the baby"

"Baby? What Baby?" Jo was confused.

"ugh..you haven't told her?" Kyle asked Paige.

"told me what?" Jo demanded.

"No dear" Paige addressed Kyle " I was waiting for a better time than say, when she is upset in the middle of the night"

"tell me what?" Jo insisted.

"That, I, well, we" Paige began "as in Kyle and I, are going to have a baby"

"That's a bit quick isn't it?" Came the blunt response of a 12 year old.

Kyle could see Paige getting pinker by the minute even in the darkened room "A bit I suppose" he replied

"right" Jo still appeared to be processing the information " will I have to share a room with it?"

"It's not an It" Paige corrected "and , no, Leo and Chris should have finished the extension by then"

"oh"

"Look Jo, we know this is a lot for on to take on board, but could you do me a favour" Paige asked " and not tell your aunts about this"

"why not?"

"because I just want to keep it to ourselves, for a little while in any case"

"If you want….look I'm going to go back to bed"

"do you want me to tuck you in?"

"mum! I'm 12!"

"I was just asking.."

"night!" Jo was out the door.

"That went better than expected" Kyle commented.

"No thanks to you" Paige threw a pillow at him " I think she was more stunned than anything, I think we're going to get a delayed reaction on the cards"

"she had to be told sometime"

"Yeah, when she was ready and when I as ready"

"women!"

"carefully buddy" Paige smiled "'cos your getting seriously out numbered!"

XXX

The noise of the early morning bird song alerted Phoebe firstly to the fact that she must have eventually dozed off, and secondly that someone must have opened a window. She opened her eyes to find the bed in front of her empty. Her heart temporarily froze until her eyes travelled across the room and she saw Cole standing in the window.

"Cole" she cried.

"Look's like Chris and Leo have made a lot of progress on the extension" he replied, his back to her.

"wuh" she was thrown off balance by his remark, as if he had just popped in to pass the time of day as opposed to nearly dying right there in front of her.

"Cole, you.."

"they have the support frame already up, just needs.."

"_Cole_"

"What?" he turned round, his eyes cold and emotionless, no sign of the love that they had held last night.

"You're feeling better then?" she stuttered.

"Much, that potion you used really packed a punch, thnak your sisters for me"

"What about me?"

"well, yes, and you…how many rooms is this thing going to hold"

"ugh,6 I think, 1 for Prue, 1 for Chris, 1 Guest room, 1 for Ben…Look Cole.."

"One for Ben? Why do you need one for Ben?"

"Because I don't think he will want to share a room with me for life"

"well he won't need to will he? he has his own room at my place, you didn't honestly think that he would be staying here with you did you? Not once I come back"

Phoebe blushed, as that was exactly what she had been thinking "no….she began slowly "but he'll need a room when he comes to visit….anyway,that's besides the point"

"what is the point?"

"that you nearly died last night! and all you can talk about this morning is bloody building techniques, _what is wrong with you_?"

"what is there to talk about, I needed healing, you healed me. Amen. All is sorted."

"but what about what you said, about what you told me" Phoebe continued, and just for a briefest of seconds, Coles' mask fell.

"People say a lot of stupid things when they think they're dying Phoebe" He turned his back so that she wouldn't see the sadness in his eyes "things they don't always mean"

"But…"

"I've got to go" He snapped. "thank your sisters for me. Tell Ben I'll be back soon".

He shimmered out, leaving Phoebe more confused than ever.

XXX

TBC


	16. The Problem with Piper

**Chapter 16: The Problem with Piper**

When Leo awoke the following morning and found his wife's side of the bed empty, he was momentarily confused, suddenl he rememberd the non -argument that had lead to them sleeping separetly. Strolling down stairs he found Piper in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

"Piper, can I have a word?"

"what about?"

"Last night"

"leo, I really don't want to get into that now"

"Too bad because I want to get to the bottom of this"

"I'm fine, just drop it" Piper's temper began to rise.

"Piper, we've all noticed, me ,Chris your sisters, something is not right, and I don't know what it is, but if you would just tell me, then perhaps I can help you with it"

"No you can't, nobody can" She snapped losing patience.

"well try me. Because you can't carry on behaving the way you are, one moment you're in kamakarzy demon killer mode, the next you're quivering beneath a chair, you love the boys more than life itself, though you just threw a fit over having more children.._what is wrong?"_

"Leo.."

"No, you will not fob me off, I'm your husband dammit and it is my job to support you, now for the last time, what is the problem?"

" I'm scared Leo, scared to death" Piper admitted in a voice barely above a whisper, causing Leo to have to strain to pick up what she said.

"scared? What of?" Leo was genuinely confused.

"of dying!" She shouted in frustration

The words uttered in anguish seemed to hang in the air between them.

"but." Leo was at a loss.

"Eversince Chris told me that in his original timeline, I didn't exist, I have been unable to think about anything else" Piper explained

"Piper , things could have changed.."

"It's there in the back of my mind, eating away at me ,every single moment of everyday, I've tried to distract myself, so think of other things, to fill myself with false hope that it won't come true, but it doesn't work. It terrifies me" The thoughts she had kept to herself for months all came spilling out.

"But you don't understand, Wyatt isn't evil anymore, and your destiny.."

"Exactly, it's my destiny! It's not linked to Wyatt's. He could be granted the Nobel Peace prize for humanitarian aide, and I could still die"

"I just don't get how.."

"No what you don't get Leo is that I've been given this death sentence which is hanging over me, encompassing every last thing in my life. You want to know why don't want anymore children?- because I cannot bear the thought of leaving anymore of them motherless."

She paused for breath, Leo made as if to speak but she held her hand up to silence him.

"It's like a time bomb waiting to go off, when and where will be my last day, will I be prepared? Who will be my killer?"

"You can't go on thinking like this"

"Don't you think I don't know that! These past couple of months have been some of the happiest in my life, yet at the same time, it's as if I have been given a stay of execution"

"I don't know what to say to you, I want to help you get through this"

"Just promise me something"

"what?"

"That you'll be there, for the boys, that even though they won't have me, that they will never want for your love"

"Piper, your talking as if you're going to die tomorrow"

"That's part of my point Leo, things that happened years from now in Chris' original time line have been accelerated in this one, like Paige meeting Jo, Phoebe even meeting Ben at all, who's so say that whatever happens me doesn't happen way before it should do?"

Leo didn't know what to say. For once in his life he didn't have an answer, a sage piece of advice with which to counsel his wife. It slowely dawned on him that they were all at the mercy of a greater power, a power that despite all their best efforts and good intentions, they ultimately had not control over. He did the only thing he could think of, he pulled Piper into his arms as she collapsed into tears, her string façade finally breaking under the relief of sharing her burden with him. They held each other close, both wishing that they could stay that way forever.


	17. The Heat is On

Disclaimer: I don't own charmed!

Chapter 17: The Heat is On

_Late August 2005_

It had been an abnormally warm summer in San Francisco. It was only 8am, but Prue Halliwell was already working up a sweat as she stood at her wardrobe door deciding what to wear for work. She could tell it was going to be a lousy day, especially as overly warm weather put her in a bad mood at the best of times, not that she had been in good mood at all lately.

The past 4 months had been a particularly trying time. The elders had decided that the best way to explain her 4 year absence was to implant in everyone's mind that she had been working overseas, in Paris, as a matter of fact. However it wasn't just a matter of picking up where she left off. For starters, she no longer had her job at 415, 3 months of job hunting had bore little fruition, and for the past few weeks she had managed to do the odd freelance work for the Bay Mirror, and only then because Phoebe had sweet talked Elise when their regular photographer had gone down with lumbago. All her friends to her dismay had either married or moved on. Lastly, but by no means least, the culture gap was outstanding, she didn't own an ipod, had never heard of Kelly Clarkson, hadn't watched a single Lord of the Rings film, was amazed that you could take photographs on mobile phones, and refused outright to believe Piper when she first told her of the events of 9/11 . The world had moved on, and she felt as if she would never catch up, she couldn't seem to have a conversation with someone without showing herself up.

The saving grace about the whole affair was that at least now she had her own room, as Leo and Chris had finally finished the extension.No more bunking down with Phoebe, which was a relief given that her relationship with her sisters still wasn't that great. The dynamic had changed, for Phoebe and Piper the centre of their world was their children, something that Prue couldn't quite relate to, it was slightly different with Paige, however Paige had her own problems…..

…Across the hall Paige was faring little better in the quest to keep cool.

For reasons best known only to herself, she had insisted on keeping her pregnancy a secret from all but Kyle, Jo, and Prue. Kyle had agreed to go along with the whole affair, only because he couldn't stand to see the state she got herself in whenever telling her sisters was mentioned. Jo agreed to it because Paige controlled her allowance.

However, being just over 5 months pregnant, and with a small mound quite prominent on her usually slender frame, keeping the secret was becoming increasingly more difficult.

"you should just tell them" Kyle called from the bed, as Paige pulled a 'seasonally inappropriate' long sleeved cardigan over her tight fitting t-shirt. "you can't wear that you'll roast to death"

"I'll tell them when I'm good and ready' Paige fiddled with the buttons "and I'll be fine in this"

"when's that? When you give birth?"

"Ha Ha" She allowed her hand to rest briefly on her stomouch before she pulled it away. "Get dressed will you!" she called as she sailed out the door. "else we'll be late"

Her, Kyle and Jo were going to out to Tahoe for the day, Kyle's idea, and Paige was relishing the chance at escaping the city heat. Jo had been bribed by the thought of having lunch in the hardrock café, and even Sam said he might orb along.

As Paige made her way into the kitchen she could hear Jo's voice ringing out

"isn't it just great? I'll ask mum"

"ask mum what?" Paige enquired, smiling at Chris who had patiently been listening to Jo's babbling whilst inhaling coffee.

"It's brilliant, you know how the Black Eyed Peas are playing San Francisco the day after tomorrow? Well Julie's older sister Claire 's boyfriend's cousin had tickets, but now she can't go for some reason, and there are 2 tickets going free, and she said she would let me and Julie have them, isn't that great? So can I go?" Jo looked at Paige expectantly.

"I don't think so" Paige replied.

"what?" Jo's face fell. It was common knowledge that Paige spoilt her rotton, why the change?

"I said, I don't think so"

"but you didn't even think about it! Why not? everyone else is going!"

"I'm not going to argue with you Jo."

"But…" the unjustness of the situation had rendered Jo temporarily speachless. "ugh" she flung her plate down and stormed from the room.

"we're leaving in 20 minutes" Paige called after her.

"It's not like you to say no to her, it's only a concert" Chris observed, as the thunder of footsteps over head signalled that Jo was on the way to her room to sulk.

Paige smiled "don't tell anyone, but Kyle and I bought tickets for the 3 of us for the gig on Friday, as a surprise for her, we were going to pretend to take her out for a meal and then surprise her with them."

"what's the oaccsion?"

"she's been very understanding lately.."

"oh"

"don't worry, she'll probably calm down in a couple of hours"

"yeah right" Chris' own experience of teenage strops begged to differ."aren't you going to be hot in that thing?" Chris indicated the cardigan.

"that's what I keep telling her" Piper added as she entered the room.

Since sharing her worries with Leo a couple of months ago, Piper's mood had lightened slightly. She no longer worried about leo doing a disappearing act on the event of her death. However that still didn't mean that her ultimately demise didn't stop playing on her mind. It just meant that it only consumed her every waking thought, as opposed to her entering her sleeping thoughts as it did before. On good days it was just a gentle whisper in the back of her mind. On bad days it was an ear deafening roar. Fortunately , today was one of the good ones.

"I'm fine, I don't feel the heat!" Paige exclaimed, grabbing a banana and storming out the door in much the sameway Jo had done previously.

"what's up with her?" Piper asked. Chris shrugged.

"dunno. Where's dad?"

"Elderland, they called him up early this morning, they think they have found a lead on the demon who kidnapped Prue"

"we know who kidnapped Prue, it was shax and the InvisMon"

"No, I mean, who was behind it all, who they were working for"

"Oh, do you think I ought to go up there?"

"No, if they had needed you they would have called, besides I want you here"

"mom..!"

"I want you here" Piper continued "because I want to know what you got up to last night"

Chris blushed, swolloed twice, and wondered how best to avoid the Spanish Inquisition that was to come.

XXX

A short while later, Kyle and Paige could be found meandering along the pavement in Tahoe City. Paige was feeling much more relaxed than she had been in weeks. Away from San Francisco and guaranteed not to bump into her sisters or anyone she knew, she had removed the cardigan, undone the top button of her jeans and was walking with her back straight as opposed to continually hunching over as she had been doing lately. A few paces ahead of them strode Jo and Sam, from the strains of their conversation, she could tell that Jo was telling him about the unfairness of the free concert tickets.

"what are you thinking about?" Kyle asked, noticing the contemplative look on his girl friends face.

"Sam" Paige replied "and how he never ceases to amaze me"

Kyle gave her a questioning look

"you see, when I first found the Halliwells, and I met my mom, I forgave her almost immediately for giving up me. I didn't truly understand why she had done it, but still I didn't resent her. Maybe it was because she died when I was 6 months old, so I never would have really known her had she kept me. But with Sam, it was different. Perhaps because he was a whitelighter, immortal, I think deep down I was angry that he couldn't have found someway to have included himself in my life, I don't know, pretend to be a neighbour, or a teacher at my school, a gardiner, who cares! Then when he came back into my life and then left it again. I felt even more betrayed. But now I see him with Jo, he dotes on her, takes her places, helps her with history projects, looks after her. It makes me realise that perhaps I was a little hard on him, that given the chance he would have made a good father."

Kyle nodded. "I think so too. Speaking of absent fathers.." he began "when do you think we ought to tell her about me?"

"I really don't know, it might be one thing too much what with the baby coming"

"but that's what I mean, if we told her about me, then she would realise that they are both my daughters, that I love them equally, that the baby isn't replacing her"

"daughters? So you think it's a girl then?"

"come on! In your family"

"True. Look Kyle, don't worry, I think we'll know when the time is right" she noticed Jo strolling toward them " and that time is definatley not now"

"Hey" Jo greated them.

"Where'd Sam go?" Kyle asked.

"Elderland, Grandpa said they were ringing his bell quite urgently. Something to do with a demon.."

"when isn't it" Paige sighed.

"mum" Jo exclaimed, her attention being diverted by the window of a passing clothes shop. "look at that skirt, it looks wicked"

"Yeah the price looks pretty evil too" Paige commented squinting at the glass.

Kyle smiled as he watched mother and daughter jabbing at the glass. _My Girls_. That 's what he called them, inside his head in any case. He still found it hard to believe that they were 'his', so to speak. He turned, not looking where he was going , and collided into another person.

"sorry" He looked up.

"Kyle! Kyle Brody is that you? Long time no see!"

"Glen!" Kyle shook his head in disbelief "How ya doing?"

XXX

"I'm still waiting for an answer Christopher"

Chris sighed. He had been saved answering her question earlier by the arrival of Prue in the kitchen who had set about making breakfast in a rather noisy manor whilst holding forth on the merits buying air conditioning verses more conventional ceiling fans. But now, with Prue at work, Phoebe dozing on a sun lounger in the garden and the boys playing happily on the grass, there was no escape. His mother had cornered whilst he was preparing lunch for them all.

"I don't know what you're talking about" Chris feined innocence, although he was surprised that it had got this far without her noticing.

"P3 closes at 1.30am" Piper began "This means that all things taken care of, the duty manager should be done by 2.30am on a none band night. This means that the absolute latest that a mortal, who does not have the ability to orb, should be home is 3am. I however did not hear you come home last night.Not at 3am, not at all in fact."

"you listen out for me! I have the mind of a 22-year old in the body of an 18 year old, either way I'm an adult!" Chris was semi annoyed.

"of course I do, I'm your mother! So where were you?"

"out"

"Evidently so, but where were you and who were you with?"

"what makes you think I was with anyone?"

"Chris! Don't make me use a truth potion on you"

"alright, I was with a _friend_"

"where?"

"can't tell you"

"You were in the underworld weren't you?" Piper shreaked, her worst fears on the verge of coming true.

"No I wasn't"

"Yes you were" Piper continued "you've started up on those demon hunts again, what have I told you about that ? here I am worrying myself stupid while you're down there trying to get yourself killed.."

"..I WAS AT MY GIRLFRIENDS HOUSE" Chris shouted.

"What?" Piper was almost relieved "Girlfriend?"

"Yes" Chris muttered, turning bright red.

"since when have you had a girl friend?"

"couple of months"

"why didn't you tell me about her?"

"well it's not that serious, we're not engaged or anything"

"maybe not, but I'm still your mother, I like to know these kinds of things"

"I bet you do"

"So does she have a name?"

"Jennifer"

"and what does she do?"

"does it matter?"

"no, but I like to take an interest"

"she's a student. Happy?"

"not yet. I'd like to meet her"

"mom!"

"Christopher! You've been seeing her for a couple of months and have kept her quiet, I only think it fair.."

"I'll think about it"

"hang on a minute? You spent last night at her house?"

"Yes..i just told you"

Piper seemed to be realising the implications of the statement. "just you remember" she wagged her finger at him. "I'm way too young to be a grandmother, Mister."

XXX

Paige walked out of the shop leaving Jo behind to look at the rails, shielding her eyes against the sun. She could just about make out Kyle talking to some bloke who had his back to her, she ambled toward them, searching for her sunglasses in her bag.

"…must be what 10 , 12 years?" Kyle was saying

"about that, time doesn't half fly. What are you doing out here?"

"family day out" Kyle replied, "Girl friend, daughter, father-in-law.."

"never figured you for the family type"

"Me neither…here they are now" he waved to Paige and Jo who were approaching.

"hey Paige, you remember Glen don't you?"

Paige's smile froze on her face as the man turned round and revealed himself to be Glen. Glen, equally as stunned looked from Kyle to Paige, to Paige's stomouch and back again.

"Paige!" Glen squeaked.

Kyle's phone interrupted the moment. "sorry " he apologised, "gotta take this"

"you, uh, well, uh, guess there have been some changes in your life" Glen stutted when Kyle was out of ear shot.

"well you might have known that, had you bothered to turn up to the reunion like you said"

"I know, I really really wanted to go and catch up with you"

"what stopped you"

"Jessica"

"should have known"

"It's not like that, we had abig argument, and then she asked me for a divorce"

"oh, I'm sorry" paige replied, not really meaning it.

"you don't mean it"

"no I don't. so what was this argument about?"

"You…"

"me..?"

"..and how I could never really lover her because I was still in love with you"

"what?"

"you know it's true"

"well it's a bit late now isn't it?" Paige began to get angry.

"why not?" Glen took a step closer "You don't love Kyle..how can you? When we both know it was always me "

"How dare you!" Paige spat. "How dare you tell me how I feel" she turned and began marching away from him and top speed. She felt her cardigan come lose from around her bag where she had tied it.

She could hear him calling after her " Paige wait, wait, you dropped this!" but she didn't stop, she kept going until she reached Kyle, flinging herself into his arms.

"hey- what's wrong?" he asked.

"Nothing" She replied. "I just want to go home".

XXX

"So I just spoke to Jennifer" Chris begrudgingly told his mother.

"and?"

"and her family are having some kind of BBQ tomorrow night, and they said that you could come too if you want" Said Chris, as if he were proposing that they all take a bungee jump into an active volcano.

"good" Piper replied, "your father should be finished with the Elders' by then"

"great" Chris mumbled, hoping beyond hope that it wouldn't be too embarrassing.

Paige and Jo orbed into the living room. Paige, feeling exposed without the security of her chunky cardigan, prayed that it would be empty.

"see?" Jo stated when the room proved to be vacant. "They're all out"

"alright" Paige conceded "you go make us some ice teas" She dashed into the downstairs bathroom.

The flush of the toilet masked the sound of the front door being opened.

"No lemon in mine" Paige called, mistaking the footsteps in the hall for those of her daughter. She swung the door open, and walked out, straight into the path of Piper and Chris.

_Busted_. She thought.

XXX


	18. Meet the Parents

**Disclaimer: I don't own charmed**

**A/N: Judging by the response I'm guessing that the last couple of chapters must have sucked but I may as well post this next chapter as it's already written. Might be a while before the next update... **

Chapter 18: Meet the Parents

_It was true, Chris **is** the spitting image of Piper_, Paige thought as she observed mother and son, with matching expressions of shock mixed with surprise on their faces.

"You're pregnant?" Piper finally stated.

"Yes" Paige blushed, her hand subconsciously moved toward her stomach.

"well you've got some explaining to do missy" Piper began.

"ummm" Paige wondered how best to begin when Phoebe barged noisily through the front door with Prue.

"Howdy Folks" she yodelled, "hows about we….hey where did that come from!" she squealed noticing Paige's stomach.

"about time" Prue muttered under her breath

"Like I was just about to say to Piper, I'm pregnant" Paige began

"No shit Sherlock! Quite a bit by the looks of it" Phoebe exclaimed

"No, just 5 months or so" Paige shrugged

"5 months! You kept it from us for 5 months. Why didn't you tell us?" Piper exploded

"because I had my reasons"

"But how could have been so foolish? You were going on demon vanquishes, getting thrown to the floor, anything could have happened to you!" Phoebe admonished.

"well that's just me I guess, stupid old Paige"

"You don't seem so surprised by all this" Piper turned to Prue, noticing the eldest sisters' silence on the matter.

"well, I, um" Prue debated the merits of lying verses the telling the truth

"hang on a sec, you knew?" Phoebe interrupted, analysing her sisters' non verbal communication

"Yes" She admitted

"why didn't _you_ say anything" Piper demanded

"because I asked her not to" Paige interrupted

"what?" Phoebe and Piper chorused in unison.

"because I didn't want anyone to find out"

"why ever not?" Phoebe puzzled.

"because it was a shock, I needed time to process how I felt about it before I told anyone else, and then I didn't want you judging me"

"judging you? Why would we judge you?" Piper asked.

"because it was different for you, you had kids when you were happily married and settled, and Phoebe, okay Ben didn't arrive in the most conventional mannor, but at least you were in love with Cole at the time, but what about me? I screwed up again.."

"Paige don't be ridiculous, you didn't screw up" Phoebe assured her.

"well that's what it feels like some times to me" Paige turned and stormed up the stairs " I 'm going to lay down."

"I'm confused" Piper sat down on the hall chair

"I think deep down she's just scared" Prue commented

"well, you could have told us!" Phoebe accused her.

"she asked me not to! I didn't want to betray a confidence. We're sisters"

"Yeah well so are we"

"honestly Prue sometimes I feel as if I don't know you at all anymore" Piper admitted.

"feeling's mutual" Prue cried as she stormed past her sisters and up the stairs.

"Great, just great" Phoebe sighed, "So Chris, how was your day…?"

XXX

The following day and tempers had calmed down some what. Paige admitted that perhaps she had been a little foolish keeping everything to herself, Piper and Phoebe accepted that sometimes matters were not up for public discussion. The upshot of the matter was that Paige no longer had to wear several different layers in the extreme heat, and a sulky Jo realised that her black mailing source was over.

Happy families were resumed once more. The only slight blot on the horizon was the fact that Leo and the senior elders were still locked in discussions of the demon behind Prue's kidnapping, with no sign that the conflab would end anytime soon.

So it was that Kyle, having been exempt from the supernatural pow wow because of police duties, orbed in the following evening to find Paige in the living room.

"wow have I entered a parallel universe" he asked upon noticing that Paige was wearing a figure hugging sun top.

"ha ha" she replied.

"where is everyone?"

"Pheobe's out, Prue's in her room, Piper is upstairs fretting about what to wear to this BBQ at Chris' girl friends house, Chris is busy imagining all the different meet the parents style worst scenarios that could come to pass, and Jo went round to Julia's house several hours ago and intends to spend the night there."

"so we have the house to ourselves then?" he leaned in to kiss her.

"shoe emergency" Piper came into the room clutching 5 pairs of shoes in varying shades of blue.

"women" Kyle muttered.

"Ok, which pair says 'respectable loving mother from a close knit family'?"

"um, don't know, but the one's on the end say 'middle aged frump' and the other pair say 'I'm 33 pretending to be 13" Paige contributed

"jeez thanks"

"I don't know what you're worried about, this Jennifer will love you, and so will her parents"

"You think?" Piper worried, "I'm just worried about Leo not being there. Well, he said he would try and pop down for 20 minutes, show his face. I don't want them thinking that Chris is from a broken home with an absent father and .."

"Piper!" Paige cut her off "It will be fine"

"mom, are you ready yet?" Chris stood in the doorway, Wyatt at his side.

"coming" Piper shoved her feet into the second pair of shoes, grabbed the carrycot containing Victor.

"Do we have to bring them?" He moaned, indicating the children. It was scientifically proven, the less members of your family you had in attendance, the less embarrassing any given social event would be.

"Jennifer said to invite your family, and seeing as your brothers are family then yes, we are bringing them

With that they all piled out of the door of the manor.

"so, when you called earlier you said he you had news?" Paige turned back to Kyle.

"Yeah, a couple of the other guys from the station get together with their families to have brunch once a month. They wanted to know if we would like to join them tomorrow?"

"that I'd be great, I 'll call Jo and tell her we'll pick her up early"

Kyle settled himself on the sofa, smiling, he indulged in a bit of channel surfing to pass the time until Paige returned a few minutes later looking slightly pasty.

"what's up?" his heart did a flip flop.

"I just called Julia's house, and Jo's not there, in fact Julia's mum was surprised that I was ringing given that Julia is supposed to be staying here tonight."

"The oldest trick in the book" Kyle seethed.

"Nevermind that, where the hell is she?" Paige shouted.

XXX

Chris pulled the grand chereoke into a tree lined suburban street on the other side of San Francisco. "I still don't understand why we couldn't orb" he grumbled.

"because we are pretending to be a nice normal family, and nice normal families don't orb, they drive" Piper said as she stared at the houses on either side of the street "gosh, what did you say Jennifer's Parents do?"

"don't know they work in the public sector or something like that "

"No wonder they can afford to live somewhere like this" Piper marvelled. She brushed an imaginary speck of dust from her skirt. " I hope I look ok"

With her hair tumbling down her back in lose curls, subtle make-up and a flattering blue halter neck dress, Chris thought his mother looked stunning, but still semi-annoyed about her insistence on meeting Jennifer and her family, he wasn't about to let her off the hook that easily "you look ok" he said grudgingly.

"I'll have to do" she responded as they car came to stop "I just hope your father isn't too late joining us. You did orb those clothes up to him earlier?"

"Yes" Chris said patiently "It's not as if he would join us wearing his Elder robes anyway"

"good good" Piper picked up the baby carrier and handed Wyatt to Chris "carry your brother, I don't want him getting his shoes dirty"

Wyatt smiled up at his older brother "don't you laugh" Chris hissed "she'll do exactly the same thing to you when you reach my age"

They heard laughter coming from the back of the house, as they walked through the side gate, coming out into a large Garden with a BBQ at one end, a food table at the other and a small crowd of people gathered in between.

"there she is" Chris pointed to a willowy girl with long brown hair who had her back to them. "Hey Jen" He strode toward her, breaking away from Piper slightly.

Here goes nothing, Piper thought…

XXX

A tense quarter of an hour had passed in which both Kyle and Paige had tried to sense their daughter with no avail.

"There's no need to panic yet, sometimes she's hard to sense when she's in a crowd" Paige reasoned.

"who's panicking?" Kyle asked as he paced the floor in front of the mantle, gritting his teeth. "we need to think logically, where could she be?"

"Theoretically anywhere, given that she can orb"

"you were a 12 year old girl once, where did you used to go?"

"to the park to hangout with a crowd of people that were way too old for me" Paige admitted. Kyle raised an eyebrow "but we're not talking about me, Jo's better than that, or at least I thought she was."

Kyle sighed, he glanced at the abandoned copy of todays Bay Mirror on the coffee table 'Black Eyed Peas, play 4 nights in San Francisco" read the Headline on page 3.

"oh she wouldn't would she?" he pointed at the paper.

"Oh yes she would" Paige replied.

Kyle disappeared in an orb cloud, reappearing 5 minutes later with a sulky looking Jo at his side.

"where was she?" Paige asked

"outside the arena" Kyle replied

"You went to the concert?" Paige turned to Jo

"Yes" Jo was unrepentant

"I can't believe you"

Something inside of Jo snapped. She was always so good, so sweet, so well behaved, doing as she was told all the time. Not that it mattered, all her mother and Kyle had seemed to talk about recently was the baby, and now that the aunts knew, it would only get worse. So what if she had sneaked out to a concert? She wouldn't have had to if Paige had let her go in the first place.

"what are you scared of mom?" She taunted, not caring what she said or did "That I'll sleep with some looser and wind up pregnant while I 'm still in High School? That I'll do drink and drugs , and then still not having learnt my lesson I'd go and do the same think all over again? Come on who would be stupid enough to do that?...…ah yes.. _you_" She spat.

Paige looked as if she was about to cry "Jo.." she began

"That is it! " Kyle interrupted " You've disobeyed us, lied, and been down right rude, _you will not speak to your mother like that_, you're grounded"

"who are you to tell me what to do?" Jo turned to face Kyle, a look of contempt upon her face "You're not my father!" She yelled.

"YES I AM" Kyle shouted, the words tumbling out of his mouth before he could stop them.

XXX

"Hey" Jennifer turned to Chris as he approached, pecking him on the cheek "Who's this little cutey?"

"My little brother Wyatt"

"ahhh sweet"

"and this" He took a deep breath "this is my mother, Piper and my youngest brother Victor "

Piper plastered on what she hoped was her best hundred watt smile. She remembered how Grams had scared off a fair few of her would-be suitors by giving them a death stare, and she refused to do that to Chris.

Jennifer turned round to greet her, Piper took in the slim figure, her eyes travelling upwards to he face, the big blue eyes, the freckles.She froze, her hand stretched out in a mid air greeting.

Chris looked at the two women, Jennifer with an expression of abject confusion on her face, Piper, her features contorted in a shock.

Before he could ask what was wrong, a man's voice boomed through the air.

"Jen! Do your guests want a drink?"

"Um" Jennifer recovered her voice "Yes , I think they do"

"Good good" he approached the crowd from behind brandishing a wine bottle "White or…or…..red " he trailed off.

"Hello Dan" Piper squeeked.

XXX


	19. Consequences

**Disclaimer:I don't own charmed.**

**Chapter 19: Consequences**

"what?" Jo's eye's narrowed "I'm sorry did I miss something in biology?- you come along, get my mother pregnant, practically move in here, and suddenly you're my dad! You've known us like 5 months!" Her voice dripped with a sarcasm that made her appear much older than her 12 years.

"I've known her a lot longer than that" Kyle tried his hardest to keep calm.

"Kyle" There was a warning tone in Paige's voice.

"ooo sorry my maths must be a little off, okay, 6 months"

"no, actually I've known her nearly 13 years"

"13 years! That's like…." Jo stopped, realisation slowly dawning on her.

She looked to Paige, as if expecting her to deny what was becoming increasingly apparent. Paige just stared at her, lost for words.

"_I hate you_! _Both_ of you!" Jo turned and fled up the stairs, and along the corridor, the slam of her bedroom door echoed through the house.

"should we go and speak to her?" Kyle asked concerned.

"No, leave her, I'll talk to her when she's calmed down" Paige responded,

XXX

"Piper!" Dan sounded as if he had swallowed helium, his voice several octaves higher than it should have been "what are you doing here! ..what I.. mean is, how are you?"

"I'm good" Piper replied, wishing she could say the same for him, the past 5 years hadn't been kind on their former neighbour, he had aged quite badly, she allowed herself a self satisfied smirk.

"yeah you look well" He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets so that she wouldn't see how much they were shaking.

Victor burbled loudly from his carry cot on the ground. Piper bent down to retrieve him, she picked him up and held him to her, as if using him as a protective shield between her and Dan.

"They yours?" Dan asked, nodding head in the direction of Wyatt, who had released himself from Chris's arms and was now standing at Piper's side, starring up at this strange man.

"Yes they are" Piper smiled. "this is Victor, and that's Wyatt."

"oh right" Dan replied, somewhat distractedly, a feeling of jeaslousy rising inside of him that she had met some who she loved enough to have children with, someone who evidently wasn't him. He surveyed her hands for signs of a wedding ring. Alas her left hand was tucked under the baby obscuring his view. "so, um why are you here again? Not that it isn't nice to see you again or anything, it's just a little strange, y'know" He was staring at her intensely.

"I'm here with Chris" she said slowly.

"Chris ..excellent guy Chris..ugh how do you know him?"

"he's my son"

"_Son?_!" Dan's voice shot up several more octaves, and his eyebrows appeared to disappear into his hairline. "Jenny, could I have a word with you please? Excuse us" He plastered an overly fake smile onto his face and proceeded to drag his niece off to the side.

"why didn't you tell me?" he screeched once they were safely out of ear shot of Piper and Chris.

"tell you what?" Jenny asked.

"that Chris was Piper Halliwell's son!"

"I swear I didn't know, he introduced himself as Chris Perry, I mean yeah sure he said lived over on Prescott street, but it's a massive street, so do hundreds of other people"

"but surely you noticed the resemblence?"

"No, not when I wasn't looking for it, and why would i? she didn't have any kids when we met her"

"That's true" Dan mused….

" So I take it you know Jenny's uncle?" Chris was saying to Piper, over on the otherside of the garden.

"_Know him_! That's rich! Chris that's Dan!"

"and?"

"He's a guy I used to date before your father" Piper detailed

"so?..i'm not sensing the problem here…"

"Chris, I dumped him _for_ your father..i don't think he ever forgave me, or Leo for that matter"

"oh"

"yes, oh, and I'd hate to think what he'd do if he saw your father,…"

"Dad, do you think I'd better warn him not to come down here?"

However before he could do anything, Dan and Jenny returned.

"sorry about that" Dan apologised, "just needed to straighten a few things out"

"mummy" Wyatt interrupted "bathroom pwease"

"I'll take him!" Jenny grabbed his hand and practically ran in doors relieved to get away from all the tension.

"so, help me out here" Dan began "how is it that Chris can be your son, I mean, I don't remember any 13 year-old children in your life when we dated"

"It's complicated" Piper chose her words carefully " Chris has only recently come back into my life" she hoped the obscurity of her sentence would lead Dan to presume Chris was the result of some teenage affair that she had adopted out.

"I see" Dan appeared to be considering everything carefully " and your _husband_ is okay with all this?" He was dying to know if she had married Leo, but pride prevented him from asking her outright.

"My _husband_ is fine with this, he loves Chris" She replied, playing Dan at his own game, if he wasn't going to address the subject of Leo directly than neither would she.

"I always knew you would make an excellent mother" he said, a bittersweet note in his voice.

"How about you?" Piper asked "have you got anyone special in your life"

A string of broken relationships, each girlfriend never lasting more than 2 weeks, all because 5 years ago, he had fallen in love with the girl next door, and she had broken his heart. "No" he said "Not really.."

The twinkling sound of an impending orb could be heard from behind a nearby tree, accompanied be Leo popping his head through the branches to check if the coast was clear.

Chris , began making warning gestures at his mother. She glanced behind her discreetly, a fleeting look of horror passed her features, she gestured to Chris to go and ward him off.

Chris was across the other side of the garden in two strides.

"Dad" he hissed

"Hey" Leo smoothed down the tie that Piper had forced him to wear. "Sorry I'm a bit late, hope I haven't missed all the fun."

"No, look Dad, I.."

"meeting was good, finally have a lead on that demon who kidnapped Prue.."

"listen dad…I don't think you should go over there"

"Look, Chris, it's okay, I know"

"You do..?"

"Sure, I do, I was your age once, you're worried that I'm going to embarrass you in front of your girlfriend, I understand..to be honest I didn't want to come here tonight, but your mother insisted and…"

"_Dad!_"

"what? I promise I'll be on my best behaviour, besides legally I'm only 34, that's still young enough to be cool.."

"Dad please don't go over there.." Chris pleaded, but it was too late. Leo was already striding across the lawn towards his wife.

"Hi " he began, his arm outstretched "I'm .."the words died in his throat as the gentleman Piper had been talking to turned round.

"Leo" Dan finished his eyes narrowing.

XXX

Paige could hear the sound of dry sobs as she approached the door to Jo's room 30 minutes later. She knocked lightly

"Go away!" came the muffled shout from inside.

Ignoring her, Paige pushed the door open, Jo was laying face down on her bed. Paige crept over and gently sat down besides her, stroking her hair lovingly.

"is it true?" Jo turned a tear stained face toward her mother "what he said? he's my father?"

"Yes"

"Oh"

"look Jo" Paige's heart went out to her daughter, knowing from experience what it was like to have long lost fathers thrust upon you "he doesn't expect you to suddenly start calling him Daddy, sending him father's day cards and asking him for help with your homework…., all he asks is a little respect, that you would show to any other human being, do you think you can do that?"

"suppose"

"good"

"am I still grounded?"

"absolutely…you still lied to us, you still snuck out"

"I didn't mean all those nasty things I said about you" Jo sighed "It's just I wish I could freeze time sometimes, just make it you and me again" she admitted

"so do I" Paige agreed.

"wish it was just me and you?"

"no, wish I could freeze time, that we could stay this way forever"

"But that would mean that I would be 12 years old forever, and that the baby would never be born? You don't want that do you?"

"Yes I do"

"but why?"

" because you see Jo, adults' get scared too"

"huh?"

"If you were 12 forever it would mean that I could protect you forever, you wouldn't have to grow-up…

"but what about the baby?"

"Jo, the reason that you are in exceptionally wonderful person you are today, is no small part due to the way your adoptive father raised you. You came to me at 10 years old, perfectly grounded in the manors , morals and behaviours of this world. All I have to do is keep you on the straight and narrow for the next few years or so. But the baby, I am going to be completely responsible for the way she turns out from day one, and I'm scared that I will mess it up..so if the baby stays inside me forever, then I can protect it too"

"but you're a great mom!"

"it doesn't make me any less nervous , especially after your little stunt tonight!"

"I know and I'm sorry, I really am, I won't do it again, and when the baby comes I will do everything I can to help you"

"that's very sweet of you" Paige kissed the top of her head. "are you going to come down stairs?"

"No, I don't want to see him just yet"

"who Kyle?"

"yeah, I just need to get my head around things"

"Okay" Paige got up, leaving her daughter alone with her thoughts.

XXX

"You married him then" Dan drawled.

"yes" Piper said

"what the hell is going on?" Leo was confused

"Dad..please" Chris interrupted

"_Dad?_!" Dan spat "You mean he is Chris' father as well, so you two had history well before I came along"

"It's not what you think" Piper cried

"who cares what he thinks" Leo added.

"you played me for a fool, both of you. " Dan shouted

"that wasn't too hard" Leo sniggered.

"what was I? some kind of rebound relationship? Some kind of experiment to see what it was like dating another man before you went back to your child hood sweet heart?"

"it wasn't anything of the sort Dan, and you know it" Piper reasoned.

"I loved you! You tore my heart to pieces, I was honest and caring, yet you trampled over me to go out with some guy with a dodgy history, who had something to hide"

"I've had just about enough of this" Leo yelled.

"so what are you going to do about it?" Dan taunted

"This" Leo sent his left fist flying toward Dan.

XXX


	20. Appeasement

a/n: wow, I come back from Madrid to find over 100 reviews! That's certainly inspired me to get a move on.

Disclaimer: I do not own charmed.

**Chapter 20: Appeasement**.

"….and then what happened?" Phoebe clutching at her breakfast mug of coffee, pleaded like a little child wanting an extra chapter of a bedtime story.

"and then" Piper continued to her assembled audience of sisters, nieces and nephews, " Dan staggered back slightly, knocking into the buffet table, which in turn sent all the food and plates crashing to the floor. He stumbled forward and tried to clock Leo, who dodged him but ended up falling into the garden wall, by which time I had managed to put Victor down safely, and could freeze the place. Chris went to fetch Wyatt, I gave Leo a good talking to, we unfroze Dan and we made a swift exit. "

"so you didn't actually get to meet Jenny's parents then?" Prue asked.

"No, her father had gone out to pick up some more wine, and we left before he got back , I saw her mother from afar, but after the whole Dan thing I didn't really want to stick around and introduce myself."

"Dan ay, talk about blast from the past, who'd have thought it?" Phoebe commented

"Not me, that's for sure" Piper admitted.

"so it was an eventful night all around" Phoebe concluded, glancing at Paige who merely sighed, and Jo who was looking at her plate.

"….that was Jenny" Chris stormed into the room, slamming the cordless phone onto the counter.

"and how is she?" Piper ventured.

" a little upset, given that a harmless family bbq descended into caos, and as a result isn't sure if we ought to continue seeing each other, given the circumstances" he fumed.

"Oh" Piper offered

"Yes, _'oh'_, where's Dad?"

"Now, Chris, I don't think it was entirely your father's fault"

"_I said_ , where's dad?"

"In the attic.."

"right" Chris clomped out.

"on that note, I think I'll go take a shower" Prue jumped up "don't worry" she reassured Piper "He'll calm down soon enough."

"yeah, eventually" Phoebe continued, grabbing Ben by the hand and exiting the room.

"this is all such a mess" Piper sighed

"what's new?" Paige grumbled.

"Good Morning Ladies" Kyle breezed into the kitchen

There was a knock on the front door."I'll get it" Piper dragged herself to her feet, noticing the obvious tension that had filled the room the second Kyle had entered.

"Yes?" she asked wearily , flinging the door open.

"Morning" Dan replied.

XXX

" _Dad_" Chris burst into the attic

"Good Chris I could do with your help" Leo responded looking up from the book stand, "look I .."

"I'm sorry, but did that bump to your head give you short term memory loss?" Chris asked, indicating the nasty looking graze on Leo's fore head.

"No"

"So you _do_ remember humiliating me terribly last night?"

"That's a bit of an overstatement.."

"Oh no? so were my eyes deceiving me or did you not in fact throw the first punch?

"Well, yes.."

"Let's see, you start a brawl at my girlfriends house and then suddenly expect me to help you…well, I don't feel in a benevolent mood"

"Alright, I know it wasn't big and it wasn't clever, but you have to understand where I was coming from.."

"Um, you were coming from a left hook if I recall"

"Chris" Leo sighed in frustration "this isn't easy to explain, and it is going to sound unbelievably cheesy but never mind…when I first saw your mother, it really was love at first sight. The fact that she then proceeded to date Dan hurt me so much that I really did feel as if I was dying inside.."

"You're already dead" Chris remarked petulantly

"_and_" Leo ignored him "every time I see Dan, it reminds me of that pain, and I get this uncontrollable urge to start hitting things, it's crazy as it goes against all my whitelighter pacifist instincts….."

XXX

"I had to come round" Dan explained as he stepped inside. "and apologise for last night"

"well, I suppose it wasn't completely your fault" Piper said graciously, noting the black eye that Dan was now sporting.

"No, but I should have acted with more decorum" he sighed "It just threw me for a loop, seeing you again"

"I think it's safe to say that we were all as surprised as each other"

"and I think it also hurt me a little bit, the fact that it confirmed to me that you were with Leo."

"I thought you wanted me to be happy?"

"I did, I still do, and I know that being with Leo makes you happy, it's just I've only just managed to move on in my life, start dating other women".

" Did I really , hurt you that badly?"

"yes" there was no hiding the pain in his voice.

"But the genie…" Piper muttered

"what?" Dan couldn't quite catch what she said.

"nothing"

The sound of raised voices could be heard wafting down the stairs

"look , Piper, I'd better go" Dan glanced upwards "tell Leo I'm sorry"

"I'm sure Leo is feeling pretty bad too" Piper offered, as she escorted him to the front door.

"and tell Chris, I 'll have a word with Jenny. He's a great bloke, you've got a wonderful son there, it's not his fault what went on between us"

"I know" Piper smiled

"who knows, perhaps one day we will all be able to stand in the same room together and be civil"

"Hopefully"

"and I promise I will be on my best behaviour at the wedding" Dan quipped

"_wedding_, what wedding?" Piper panicked at the thought of her 'baby' boy ever getting married

"Joke" Dan explained "bit of a lame one though.."

"Oh right"

"Goodbye Piper, all the best.."

"Thanks Dan, I hope things work out for you too, I really do" She pecked him on the cheek.

He turned and walked wistfully toward his car.

Piper closed the door slowly, casting her eyes upward, she debated going upstairs to intercede between Leo and Chris, but decided that the pair were big enough to sort their own problems out, she chose instead to go and put her feet up for a peaceful 10 minutes or so.

XXX

"so how are we all this morning?" Kyle asked the room at large

"Good" Paige smiled "I'm , just going to hang some of this washing out" she said pointedly, motioning at Jo. She grabbed the laundry basket and headed for the back door.

"Jo?" he asked, noticing that her eyes hadn't risen from the table.

"been better" came the mumbled reply

"Still, upset about last night I see"

"what do you expect from me _Kyle_?" she asked, "for me to rush into your arms and tell you that you're the greatest Dad in the world? Well tough luck I had the greatest dad in the world, and now he's _dead_"

"I think your mother already explained what I expect from you _Poppy Jo_"

Jo raised an eyebrow, Kyle shot her a look as if to say 'if you can play the name game, so can I'.

"and that" Kyle continued "is some respect and understanding."

"doesn't mean I have to like you"

"No, it doesn't, though it's safe to presume that you did like me a little bit, prior to last night?"

Jo remained silent.

"thought so. Look, you can hate me if you want, it doesn't change the way I feel about you, I love you, and whether you chose to believe that is up to you, but there is one thing I won't put up with , and that is causing your mother anymore undue stress"

"so…?"

"so I say, that we both make an effort to be civil to each other, at least until the baby is born. Ok?"

Jo brooded.

"I said, are you ok with that, _Poppy_?" Kyle wasn't sure but he could have sworn that he saw the smallest of smiles flicker quickly across Jo's face, before disappearing.

"Yes _Kylie_" she retorted, before orbing up to her room.

"daughters!" Kyle exclaimed to the empty room.

XXX

"still doesn't mean you had to punch the guy" Chris persisted

"Chris" Leo pleaded

"I'm just saying…"

"I'm sorry ok, is that better?"

"No, it won't be _better_ until Jenny decides that it is safe enough for us to go out again without starting world war 3"

"she'll come around, they all will eventually"

"easy for you so say"

"Do you want me to have a word with her? I can if you want"

"No way! That is quite frankly the worst thing you could do right now. I seriously think you are suffering from brain damage, jeez were you ever young?"

" In which case" Leo humphed "just be patient, I was with your mother and look where that got me. You wouldn't be standing here now if I hadn't"

"ugh Dad, seriously I don't want to think about _that_"

"speaking of which, I don't need to have a father son talk with you about 'that' do I?"

"No, dad really, I think I'm ok"

"because you know, if you ever do want to talk about certain 'things', I am always here, you don't need to be embarrassed"

"Dad, please , shut up" Chris was now bright pink.

"just checking" Leo continued flicking through the book "It's always best to.."

"Dad!" Chris cried " I forgive you ok, just please be quiet, because I'm 30 seconds away from orbing out of here"

Leo smiled to himself.

"what are you looking for anyway?" Chris asked, eager to change the subject.

"I was about to tell you, before you started shouting at me" Leo retorted, setting down his copy of _Readers Digest Guide to Upper Level demons, A – H. _" We've found the demon who was behind Prues' kidnapping"

"and? Who is he?"

"That's the thing, we don't know his name, we just have a picture of him, I tried to find him in the book of shadows but he's not there. Hence I brought these down from Magic School for a little light reading." He indicated to the pile of dusty books on the attic floor. "here" he chucked a copy of _Who's Who in the Underworld 1975_, at Chris.

"so what am I looking for exactly?" Chris began flipping through the pages

"This" Leo handed him an A4 piece of paper with a water coloured image on it, not unlike those found in the Book of Shadows. "The elders seem to think that a Power of 3 spell complete with potion ought to do the trick, we just need to ID the demon before we tell the girls"

"I'm not hearing any flipping" Leo called out after a short while when Chris still hadn't begun to look through the books. "Chris?" he asked quizzically. "I thought you were going to help me? You're not sulking still are you?"

"I don't need a book to tell me who this is, it's the Caixa Demon" Chris replied, his voice tight.

"Battled him in the future have you?"

"_Battled him_?" Chris' eyes opened wide with terror "It's the demon that killed mum".

XXX


	21. Poco a poco viene la oscuridad

**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**

**Chapter 21: Poco a poco viene la oscuridad**.

Chris couldn't deny it any longer. Ever since he had returned to the past the signs had been there. Jo finding Paige 2 years before she should have done in his timeline. Phoebe meeting Cole, years before it had originally happened. And now, the demon that killed his mother was going to turn up 13 years too soon.

"You're sure?" Leo had asked 10 times.

"Yes" Chris had replied 10 times, and would have reiterated a thousand times if need be "his face haunted my every waking moment for months, tormented me in my pitiful sleep. It is most definitely the Caixa demon"

"right. Let's think about this"

"What is there to think about? They can't battle him. End of"

"Chris this demon needs to be vanquished"

"then I'll do it, or we can do it, bloody get the elders down here to do it themselves , but one thing is for sure. Mom is not going anywhere near that thing"

"But the whole point is that it is the Charmed One's who needs to take it out."

"Perhaps I wasn't making myself clear – mom is going to die in this battle, she _cannot _be allowed to fight. I can't believe you are even prepared to consider this."

"It's not that simple Chris, it never is"

"You don't understand, you weren't there…I _cannot and will not lose her again_"

"It may not come to that this time"

"whatever way you look at it Leo, by allowing this battle to go ahead, you are willingly and knowingly sending her to her death. You're no better than a tyrant"

"send _who_ to her death?" Prue stood in the doorway of the attic,

Chris and Leo remained mute.

"well then" Prue stepped fully into the room "one of you had better start talking, _now_"

…**_20 minutes later_**

"she died?" Prue was still having trouble processing all the facts.

"Yes" Leo said simply.

"which is why" Chris interrupted, " she can't be allowed to fight this demon."

"You're forgetting one thing" Prue told him. "This is Piper, and from what I've seen and heard these past couple of months, nobody tells Piper what to do."

"But family means everything to her" He cried

"Exactly! If fighting this demon means that you and your brothers can have an unhindered fairly normal child hood then she would do it in a flash. You and I both know that's true."

"I don't care..she's my mum"

"I know sweetie" Prue's gaze softened, "I lost my mum too, and I was angry at her too when I realised she had taken on the water demon by herself, but I realise now that she was only doing it to protect us, to her it was one more demon to vanquiah who couldn't come after us."

"_You don't care_, you just want revenge on the demon who kidnapped you. Screw who gets hurt in the cross fire. You lost 5 years of your life, everyone else moved on and you can't stand it. Some one's got to pay, but instead of the demon, it's going to be my mom. You're jealous of everything she's got and every thing she has become, admit it" Chris burst out, the anger making him irrational.

"Christopher Perry Halliwell" Leo shouted.

"That's not true" Prue muttered, her eyes down cast.

"hey guys I hear that you got a lead on who kidnapped Prue?" Phoebe and Ben came bounding into the room.

"we were just discussing that as a matter of fact" Leo said, trying to force a smile.

"discussing it? That's rather civilised, what happened to the wham bam thank you ma'am approach" Phoebe joked.

No one laughed.

"what's going on..?" she asked.

Ben, meanwhile had noticed a picture on the floor of the attic. While mummy and the grown ups began talking he wondered over to have a look. Picking it up, he was immediately flung into a premonition.

"ahhhhhhhhhhhh" he screamed.

Phoebe was at his side in seconds. "Ben, sweetie what happened?"

"I had a vision" he hiccupped between tears.

Phoebe rubbed his back soothingly, half of her secretly proud and curious that he had inherited her power, the rest of her hurting by the fact her son was too young to be subject to terrifying premonitions.

"what did you see?" she asked gently.

"that nasty man, and you, aunty Prue, aunty Piper, aunty Paige, and some other people who I couldn't see because there were fire balls everywhere and lots of noise and smoke. What does it mean?"

"It's okay darling, it's okay, it doesn't mean anything because we won't let that happen." She soothed.

"promise?"

Phoebe crossed her fingers behind her back "Promise. Now, shimmer down to Aunty Piper and perhaps she'll give you a cookie"

"You said no shimmering in the house"

"well I think we can make an exception this time"

"alright" he said glumly before shimmering out.

Phoebe looked up. " So, who wants to tell me what the hell is going on?"

Leo quickly enlightened the middle sister.

"and there is something else we need to consider too" he said, his voice heavy. "whether or not to tell Piper about the severity of this battle"

Chris's head shot up " what are you saying?"

"he's saying, if it was you, would you want to know in advance if you were going to die?" Prue said bluntly.

"Yes" Chris replied "of course, that way you can say your goodbyes, make sure there are no words are left unspoken, and those that are left behind have the chance to prepare themselves, not have someone snatched cruelly from them without time to tell them how much you really loved them…"

"I wouldn't" said Prue "that's no way to go through life, with a thunder cloud over your head, an invisible count down timer ticking, knowing that every second draws you closer to your end. I'd rather not know, at least I would be happy, at least I wouldn't be dwelling on all the people that I would never live to see, all the things that I would never achieve."

"Why are we thinking like this?" Phoebe interrupted. "to me it seems simple- we don't tell her. This time we will be prepared for the attack, we'll kick some demon butt, as this time we have the power of 4, not 3. and Piper will never have to know that she died in the original timeline. There's no need to tell her right?"

She looked expectantly at the assembled group. Prue was nodding in agreement. Leo and Chris however….

"Right?" Phoebe asked again.

"She knows" Chris muttered

"Huh"

"Piper. She knows that she died in the original timeline, and there is a small possibility that it could happen in this timeline too." Leo told them.

"But how…?" Prue was at a loss

"She over heard me and dad talking." Chris explained

"I can't believe she didn't tell us! She kept it too herself!." Phoebe exclaimed

"That's mom, a martyr through and through" Chris attempted a Joke

"why wouldn't she tell us?" Prue puzzled.

"Honestly, I think it is because she didn't know how" Leo admitted.

"Hey you lot" Paige's voice floated up the stairs "Piper says if you don't all get down here and drink your coffee before it gets cold she's going to blow your collective asses to kingdom come"

"so we're agreed then" Prue said as they left the room "we won't tell her"

"Yes" Phoebe said, looking at Chris.

"Ok" he agreed, he could see the logic sort of, besides, at least he could mentally prepare himself. "I'm going to go out I'll be back later" he orbed out to the Golden Gate bridge to think and have some alone time.

"There you all are!" Piper greeted them as they entered the sun room "so what was the big mothers meeting about?"

"Leo was telling us about the Demon who kidnapped Prue" Phoebe tried to keep her voice light.

"really?"

"Yeah, sounds pretty simple, a potion, power of 3 spell, and hey presto" Prue continued.

"is that so?" Piper looked up at her husband who merely gave her a little smile. "well perhaps now he's finished gossiping he can give me a hand with the coffee" she motioned for her to follow him into the kitchen.

She handed him a tray and began placing various cups and sauces on it "good news about the Elders having found the demon" she said

"yeah yeah great" he hoped his tone was 'upbeat'.

"at least we can vanquish him and then be done with it, one less thing to worry about"

"uh-huh, one more on the never ending list!"

"What's he called/" she began balancing silverware on the edge of a plate.

"The Caixa Demon"

"Interesting name" she placed a plate of biscuits on the top. Stopping inches away from his face she paused and looked him straight in the eye "It's the _one_ isn't it?" she said slowly.

Leo opened his mouth, closed it again, opened it, and finally just said "Yes".

For the briefest of seconds a look of uncontrollable fear flashed across Piper's face. Then her mask rose once again and she choked back the tears that were threatening to fall. "oh"

"_Piper_"

"When do we vanquish him?"

"You don't have to , we can find a way.."

"_I said_, when de we vanquish him?"

"If you want, we.."

"It's not about what _I _want Leo" she grabbed the tray from him. "Ladies" she yelled as she walked into the sun room "I hear we've got some demon butt to kick…."

XXX

TBC


	22. Past the Point of No Return

**Disclaimer: I do not own Charmed.**

**a/n: I've now written the next 2 chapters, so how fast they are uploaded depends on the responses I get! For those who are worried about Piper's, Prue's, Chris's and Paige's immortal souls (no one is particularly bothered about Phoebe it seems) all I will say is that when 2 sides enter into conflict, there are inevitably always casualties of war…..**

**Chapter 22 : Past the Point of No return**.

Plans had been made. Jo, Ben, Wyatt , and Victor had been sent to the attic under the guardianship of Chris with strict instructions to remain there no matter what. Chris had moaned and wailed, and insisted that he ought to be able to fight too. Piper however was having none of it.

"I have explained a thousand times over, I don't care that you are part witch, part whitelighter, you are my son, and as your mother, I insist, nay I _demand_ that you remain here"

"But you don't understand, the power that this demon wealds,.." Chris began.

"I am perfectly aware of how powerful he is, which is why we all want our children here out of harms way." Her voice began to waver.

"mom"

"Christopher, I want you to promise me something"

"what?"

"That no matter what happens, you will stay here, you will protect your family. _No matter what happens. Promise me!"_

Chris looked her straight in the eyes. It was then that he realised. She knew. She knew who this demon was, she knew that in his original timeline he had killed her.

Tears began to well in his eyes and he looked away. "No" he shook his head. "You know I can't promise that"

"then forgive me" Piper whispered. She tossed a vial at him, which exploded at his feet, the fumes seeping into his every pore.

"what did you just do?" he shouted.

"Bound your powers" she replied.

"what?"

"CRYSTALS" Paige yelled, activating a cage around the Charmed One's off spring.

"It's only temporary, just lasts for a couple of hours or so" Piper explained.

"I Love you" she told him, tears running freely down her cheeks, he ignored her, fuming about what she had just done. Paige and Piper turned to leave.

They were almost at the door when he shouted. "Mom?"

"Yes?" She looked back.

"Be careful" He called.

Piper nodded, gripped Paige's hand, and orbed out.

XXX

Down stairs, the assembled Charmed Ones plus Kyle and Leo stood, having a final summit.

"so we're agreed then, you men are to toss vanquishing vials at his minions, then we're going to stun him, hit him with a power of 3 spell, said by all four of us for extra effect" Prue for once took the lead, Piper gladly relinquishing the role.

Everyone nodded silently.

"and Paige, if you sense that you and the baby are in danger, or it all gets too much for you, orb out of there immediately, got it? Don't worry about us" she instructed the youngest charmed one.

"Yes" Paige agreed.

"are you sure the spell and the potions will work?" kyle worried.

"as sure as we can be when there is no 'official' potion/spell" Phoebe replied.

"let's just get this over and done with" Piper gritted her teeth.

They had agreed to summon the Caixa demon at magic school, it meant that the children were safe at the manor, it saved them the job of a messy clean up, and there was much more space.

Orbing into the great hall they found it deserted.

"Ok, so we.." the words died in Prue's throat. The Caixa demon materialised at the opposite end of the room.

"greetings ladies" he called.

"Hello" Prue replied.

"Nice day for a battle isn't it?"

"How did you know that we..?" she asked

"..were going to summon me and try and vanquish me?..i have my ways"

"right, well at least you had time to say your goodbyes" Paige taunted

"Ha. What makes you think you'll win?"

"Oh I don't know" the adrenalin made Prue cocky " Perhaps because we're the Charmed Ones, perhaps because you're vastly out numbered?"

"I wouldn't be too sure about that" The Caixa demon replied calmly. He clicked his fingers, and a row of 20 demonic henchmen appeared behind him, followed by another, and another, and another, until they were 6 rows deep. He smiled a deep unnerving smile. "May I present to you my army.."

XXX

The battle began. The air was awash with Fireballs, plasma balls, athames , fumes from potion vials. It was as much as the Halliwells could do to try and vanquish all the henchmen, let alone get close enough to the Caixa demon to try and attempt to vanquish him.

The caixa's demonic army consisted of very hard to vanquish soldiers, Piper's explosive power needed to be used 3 times on one henchman before it had any effect. Similarly the potion vials only worked if they landed directly on the demonic face, any other place on the body and they were protected by armor.

On they fought, 3 hours had passed and still they hadn't closed in on the Caixa Demon. Then suddenly Phoebe saw her chance. She had tumble rolled to avoid a plasma ball, and when she opened her eyes, she noticed that the Caixa demon was less than 5 ft away. Silently she looked around. Prue was on one side of the room, tking demons into the wall, Piper was on the otherside attempting to blow them up. Paige was orbing fireballs back to their owners, although the strain was taking it's toll, and she was getting weary. Leo and Kyle were no where to be seen. They couldn't last much longer. Phoebe knew she had to take her chance now.

Slowly she crept up to the Caixa, the spell and a vanquishing vial clutched in her left hand.

"Oh look, the Power of One" The Caixa drawled, spotting her out of the corner of his eye. "It won't work you know"

"want a bet?" Phoebe tossed the vial at him.

Nothing happened, not even the slightest wince of pain. _Dammit, they needed the spell_. She looked around, Prue was still far off body slamming demons, Piper was surrounded by a small group of them, and Paige, Paige orbed a fireball back at its owner, before falling unconscious to the floor, the strain on her body being all too much.

Phoebe swallowed hard.

"It wouldn't work you know" The Caixa demon was now bouncing a plasma ball on his right palm. "even with your sisters. Because there is one thing you don't know about me"

He leaned forward an evil glint in his eye. "you, see" he whispered "Good magic can't vanquish me, only evil can…"

The colour drained out of Phoebe's face. "bye bye now" he shouted as he threw the ball at her. She threw herself to the floor, praying that it would miss her.

Before he had chance to celebrate his triumph he suddenly fell forward, his vision blurring as a searing pain ripped through his torso. Twisting his head around he saw an athame protruding from the small of his back, "what?" He stuttered in confusion.

"Good job I was here to help then wasn't it?" A hooded figure told him.

"_You!_"

The hood was lowered as the Caixa demon exploded into hundreds of thousands of pieces. "Good bye to you" Cole spat.

The foundations of the room began to shake, the cosmic energy released by the vanquish of such a powerful demon had been released, and needed somewhere to go.

Cole looked up, pieces of the ceiling were beginning to fall…this was not good he reckoned they had precisely 10 seconds before the ceiling collapsed entirely.

On the other side of the room, unaware of the vanquish that had taken place due to the hundreds of demonic minions still remaining, Piper had taken 5 demons, at once, throwing her hands out and exploding them one by one. She was so focused on this task that she didn't see the plasma ball headed directly for her. The first sign that something was amiss was the demon in front of her flinging himself voluntarily to the floor. She turned. The ball was 30 centimetres from her face. Time seemed to slow down, fear paralyzed her arms. She closed her eyes to brace herself for the inevitable

XXX

Chris paced the cage in frustration, all of a sudden he was overcome with a feeling of absolute terror, and he knew that he had to get to the battle scene. It had been several hours since Piper had bound his powers, it was time to find out if the potion had worn off. Gathering up every last ounce of power and strength within him, he broke through the crystal cage, near on destroying the room in the process. He just had time to lock his brothers back in and utter a hasty 'stay there' to his cousins before he orbed to the battle ground.

There was a putrid smoke everywhere making it impossible to see, rubble was falling, debris littered the floor. Rubbing his eyes he finally managed to survey the scene in front of him. Bile rose up in his mouth and he heaved. Before him lay complete and utter devastation. Bodies were strewn as far as the eye could see, the dirt from the explosion having splattered them to the extent that it was impossible to tell men from women, demons from witches, his family from the enemy…

A noise in the corner caught his attention. It was a voice. A lone weak voice, muffled beneath the layers of debris, and it was shouting .._'help, please somebody help me'_.

XXX

TBC

**Cruel aren't I**?


	23. Yea though i walk through the Valley

**A/N: seeing as you all asked so nicely…penultimate chapter..all will be explained soon.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own charmed nor do I own the words to the Hymn Amazing Grace.**

**Chapter 23: "Yea though I walk through the Valley of the shadow of death" Psalm 23**.

The church was full. Standing room only some might say. Mourners had gathered not only to say goodbye to the deceased, but also to support the rest of the family. One solitary white coffin stood at the top end of the alter, a simple bouquet of Lilies, adorned its lid.

The front pew held the Halliwell Family, Victor at one end of the row, followed by the surviving sisters, Sam,Cole, Ben, Kyle, Jo, Chris with baby Victor and finally Leo, clutching Wyatt.

"we are gathered here today to celebrate the life of a remarkable young woman" the vicar began " A most wonderful daughter, caring sister, much loved m…."

Chris zoned, out he couldn't bare to listen to the rest of the speech, he heard the sobs next to him grow louder. Cole was wiping Ben's nose, Jo was so upset that she was letting Kyle put his arm round her to comfort her. On his lap, baby Victor just smiled up at him, blowing bubbles, too young to understand the solemnity of the event.

"….and finally friend" Chris zoned back in as the vicar reached the end of his seemingly never ending list of suitable adjectives to describe the dearly departed.

"I'd like us all to stand and join together to sing Hymn number 1 on your order of service"

"_Amazing grace! how sweet the sound_

_That saved a wretch like me!_

_I once was lost, but now am found,_

_Was blind, but now I see_."

Chris turned to the back of the Church, he saw the spectral image of Patty looking back at him. Penny had sent her down to make sure that the family were alright, and to reassure the girls that their sister was in good hands.

"_Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,_

_And grace my fears relieved;_

_How precious did that grace appear,_

_The hour I first believed_!"

Patty's gaze changed toward the end of the pew. Chris looked across, to see his grandpa Victor. This wasn't the happy man that Chris knew and loved, the man who never told him off even when he had been naughty, the man to whom he could confide his deepest darkest secrets. The man at the end of the pew was broken, his face red, his eyes puffy from the tears that rolled down his cheeks, all pretence at being strong had been long forgotten. Chris wanted to leap up and go and hug him, tell him that it would be alright, even though he knew it wasn't, that it would never be.

_Through many dangers, toils and snares,_

_I have already come;_

_'Tis grace has brought me safe thus far,_

_And grace will lead me home._

They had beaten the most dangerous demon in the underworld, but at what price?. The elders had consoled them on their loss but couldn't help but show that they were pleased. The magical community was at peace. It would be at least another couple of years until anyone tried to take them on again, The Caixa demon's reputation spread far and wide, and the fact that the Charmed Ones had taken him out, spoke reams for the power that they could punch.

_The Lord has promised good to me,_

_His word my hope secures;_

_He will my shield and portion be,_

_As long as life endures._

He had felt so useless, so helpless. When he had come down to observe the battle field and found nothing but row upon row of bodies. Leo had told him not to blame himself, that he should burden no guilt. Piper had insisted that he stay away, and he had only been doing what any respectful child would do, that is, obeying his parents orders. He hadn't known that only evil could vanquish the Caixa demon. In his timeline the attack had been unprovoked, they had been caught unawares. Still he couldn't help but feel that had he helped them, he could have prevented the death somehow.

_Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail,_

_And mortal life shall cease;_

_I shall possess, within the veil,_

_A life of joy and peace._

His palms began to sweat. The hymn was nearly over, which meant that he would soon have to go and do the reading. Why had he said yes to it? Because once again he was trying to protect them all, once again he knew that none of the others would have the strength to make it to then end of a sentence without breaking down in tears. After all, he was the one who was the most experienced at suppressing his emotions. His family were counting on him

_The earth shall soon dissolve like snow,_

_The sun forbear to shine;_

_But God, who call'd me here below,_

_Will be forever mine._

Chris stood up and walked slowly to the lectern, his father giving him a pat on the back as walked past.

He looked out on the crowd of mourners, cleared his throat and began:

"Prudence Halliwell, my aunt, will be forever remembered for…."

_Flashback_

_Piper had taken 5 demons, at once, throwing her hands out and exploding them one by one. She was so focused on this task that she didn't see the fire ball headed directly for her. The first sign that something was amiss was the demon in front of her throwing himself to the ground voluntarily.. She turned. The fireball was 30 centimetres from her face. Time seemed to freeze. She closed her eyes to brace herself for the inevitable. But it never came. _

_There are times in life when you don't stop and think about things, you don't contemplate the consequences of your actions, you simply do what needs to be done in the heat of the moment. At least that is what happened when Prue Halliwell lept between the fireball and her baby sister._

_Nothing could quite prepare her for the pain, that immediately rocketed through her body as the fireball made impact with her stomuch. She fell to the ground, moaning. Piper, opened eyes, looked down , and in a split second realised what had happened._

"_Prue" she cried, flinging herself at her oldest sister. "what did you do that for?"_

"_It's okay" Prue said, her voice shaky, her breathing laboured "I wanted to"_

"_You wanted to?You wanted to die?" Piper was hysterical, as the puddle of blood flowing from her sisters front grew bigger and darker._

"_No…., I…. wanted…. to save you"_

"_Prue, no, you shouldn't have"_

"_It was easier this way..there's no husband for me to make a widower,…. no children…, hardly any friends…..…"_

"_But what about us, what about your family? we can't go through that all again"_

"_yes, you can, you're strong, Piper, you're the strongest person I know"_

"_No, no I'm not"_

"_Yes…you ..are.." Prue began to shudder as the death rattle rose up through her body "I ..love..you..all.." were her final words before the eternal darkness fell._

_End of Flashback._

_XXX_

**a/n '…much loved member of the family'….what you didn't really think I'd kill Piper did you!**

TBC


	24. Happier Times

**Disclaimer : I do not own charmed**

**a/n: in answer to the questions and queries that have been raised. **

1)Point number 1:The Caixa demon – I have been reading back over my work and it doesn't make it very clear about him does it? Sorry! I can't think of an eloquent way to fit his back story into the final chapter, without having a load of exposition. So with that in mind, and for those who are interested, here it is (remember this is what happens in my invented Charmed universe, as some things have no relevance to the show):

The Caixa demon, found fame in the underworld by being rumoured to have more power than the source. His plan, was to lead the demonic world, and over throw the world of good magic by harnessing the Charmed Ones' powers. He went after Prue, (by means of Shax) as she was the eldest and the strongest, and she was captured in both timelines. Because in Chris's original timeline, the sisters never confronted Zankou or 'vanquished' the Nexus, Prue never returned, and remained in her magical prison. The Caixa then went after Paige ( by means of the Titans – again her statue didn't kill her, merely preserved her). Several demons tried and failed to capture Piper in the years that followed, causing the Caixa to go after her himself in 2018, which he did in a surprise attack, but it failed, and instead of capturing her, he ended up killing her, which is how she died. He later went after Phoebe, Chris was made to believe that it was Wyatt who killed her when in fact it wasn't). The Caixa however, never had the opportunity to rule the underworld because evil Wyatt was more powerful than anyone else put together, and eventually defeated him Anyhow, none of this happened in the 'new' time line, because Prue returned, and the rest as they say, is history.

2. Point number 2 : Prue - I brought Prue back as I thought she could become an integral character in my story. I then realised (what she would later come to see within my story) that everyone had moved on, characters had evolved and the world could function without her in it. She was a bit of a spare part, hence my decision to kill her off, once she had chance to meet Paige and settled some issues there of course!

3. Point 3 Grammar : My lexis and syntax are British as I was taught to read and write in British English. I realise that Charmed is set in America, but I can't change what I was taught at age 4!

On wards!

**Chapter 24 : Happier Times**

_**December 2005**_

"a little more to the left" Piper dictated as Leo floated in mid air, attaching yet a bunch of balloons to the sunroom ceiling.

"enough already with the decorations, it's like a flipping explosion in a fancy dress shop" Paige grumbled from her vantage point on the sofa.

"you're a veritable ray of sunshine you aren't ya" Piper told her.

"I'm as big as house, haven't seen my feet for weeks, can't walk because my ankles are swollen, and haven't slept for more than 4 hours a night because this one keeps kicking me. What have I got to be happy about?"

"That you're going to have a lovely little baby soon" Leo offered

"yeah, well not soon enough"

" it has been a rather eventful pregnancy" Piper commented

"I suppose this wouldn't be the time to mention that Patty was 2 weeks overdue with her?" Sam brought in another plate full of food from the kitchen.

"what was that?" Paige snapped

"nothing dear" Sam replied

"good. I swear I was never this uncomfortable with Jo"

"speaking of which, when's her flight get in?" Piper asked

"about 30 minutes ago, Kyle's gone to the airport to pick her up."

"I don't know, we didn't get to go on 1-month language exchanges to Spain in my day" Piper sighed

"well you didn't go to St Francis de Assisi's 'very expensive' Academy for Girls. You just went to plain old Baker High"

"St Francis'" Sam raised an eyebrow. "How do you afford that?"

"ha. I don't, her adoptive parents educational trust fund does. Don't worry, this little one will be going to state school with the best of them." Paige tapped her stomach

"hey mister. Step away from the streamers" she called as Leo eyed up some more decorations

"Paige, seriously it's baby Victors belated first birthday party,.." Piper pleaded

"..yeah and its also Chris' belated 19th birthday party, and I'm thinking Teddy Bears Picnic is not the look he was going for." Paige reasoned

"I guess" Piper agreed

"Speak of the angel" Leo commented as Chris strolled in with an enormous grin on his face.

"hey smiler, watcha so pleased about?" Piper asked.

"nothing" the coy grin grew even larger.

"Chris please, you're not known for being this smiley" Piper told him, secretly pleased at seeing him so happy

"alright, alright" he gave in, " Jenny called"

"_and_" Leo prodded

"_and_, she thinks that maybe we can start seeing each other again. She's coming round later"

"ahhhh, Chris and Jenny sitting up a tree, K I S S I N G" Paige sang

"wow Paige, have you morphed into your own daughter now?" he smirked

"so funny_.not_"

"well I'm pleased for you peanut" Piper patted him on the back

"_mom_, how may times do I have to tell you.."

"What? We're at home, you didn't say anything about not calling you that in the house"

The door bell rang cutting off her argument.

"I'll get it!" Phoebe hurtled down the stairs at break neck speed, and headed toward the door. Flinging it open she found Cole and Ben on the front step. "Hi" she said.

"mummy" Ben flew into her arms.

"Morning" Cole gave her a peck on the cheek.

"did you get it signed?" She enquired

"Yep" He replied

"so everything's sorted?" she asked

"Yep."

_**Flashback**_

_A noise in the corner caught Chris' attention. It was a voice. A lone weak voice, muffled beneath the layers of debris, and it was shouting ..'help, please somebody help me'. _

_Chris ran to the source of the noise, and found Cole, on his hands and knees frantically removing pieces of debris from under a marble pillar._

"_Help me" he reiterated upon seeing Chris, "It's Phoebe, she's trapped under here, the ceiling collapsed , it fell on her before I could get to her"_

_Silently Chris began to help him shift the mounds of wood and plasterboard, until at last a human hand could be seen._

"_it's okay I got it from here" Cole told him_

"_You sure?" Chris asked _

"_Yes, go help the others" he replied as Chris ran off to try and locate the rest of his family._

"_come on Phoebe" he gentle eased her out from under the rubble "Now's not the time to take a nap" He gathered the unconscious form in his arms and shimmered back to the manor._

_When Phoebe regained consciousness she thought at first that the events of the past few hours had been a dream. After all the first thing she saw when she opened her eyes was her own ceiling therefore she rightly deduced that she was in her own bed. It was when she attempted to move her arm and a searing pain ripped through her body that she fully remembered what had happened. Looking down she saw that she had practically been mummified in white bandages, and the person responsible was dozing in a chair less than 2 feet away._

"_Cole" she called out_

"_Phoebe" He cried "Thank God"_

"_What are you doing here..and why do I feel as if I belong in a tomb in ancient Egypt?"_

"_You don't remember?"_

"_No, I remember Caixa throwing a plasma ball at me, throwing myself to the ground and then it went black"_

"_Yes, that would be when the ceiling collapsed, and part of a plate glass window fell on top of you. That of course was slightly after I killed the Caixa demon"_

"_so..?"_

"_I rescued you, brought you back here, stopped you from bleeding to death and kept a vigil at your bedside. You're welcome, by the way."_

"_what?"_

"_well generally gratitude is shown by the heroine toward the knight in shinning armour"_

"_forgive me for being a little slow here Cole, but last time the pair of us were involved in a possible death bed scenario, you confessed your undying love, then recovered, acted as if nothing had happened and promptly buggered off. So I'm at a bit of a loss right now."_

"_I know, but I was all over the place then, I didn't know if I was going to live to fight another day, and when I survived I knew I had to leave you again and that I might never return. It was easer to have you hate me than mourn me as a lover."_

"_and now?"_

"_and now I've done what I said I would. I avenged the Kyriad demon, they certainly won't be going after Ben or any one else. And I've returned, for good this time."_

"_right"_

"_so I was thinking, if you were willing, perhaps we could give it another go? I really did mean what I said when I was on my death bed"_

"_I'll think about it. Go get me a glass of water nursemaid"_

_**End of flashback**_

And she had, thought about it I mean. For days and days, until finally she decided to give it another chance. They had taken things very slowly. Ben had gone back to live with Cole, on the condition that Cole brought him around promptly at 6pm on Thursdays, and collected him no earlier than 6pm on Sundays. Cole usually stayed for an hour and then left, until gradually he began staying longer, and longer, until eventually they were spending the whole weekend together. Finally they had decided, to take the next step. He had sold his flat, the papers having been signed that very morning, and he and Ben were moving back to the manor.

"well then I think this calls for a celebration' Phoebe declared

"um, just a minute" he grabbed her arm as she was about to move "I have something for you"

"ah yes?"

"This" He pulled out a ring box "Phoebe Halliwell, would you do the honour of marrying me. Again"

"Yes" she leapt into his arms and planted a kiss on his lips "Yes I would love to!"

The moment was soon interrupted by Kyle pushing the door to the manor open, "we're back" he called.

Piper smiled, if there was one thing that was guaranteed to put Paige in a better mood, it was seeing her daughter, who she had missed terribly over the past few weeks. Paige stood up slowly, preparing to give Jo a welcome back hug. When Jo finally trundled into the room after Kyle, there was a sharp in take of breath from all sides.

Jo's long hair which usually fell in loose waves down her back, had been cut short to her shoulders, and straightened within an inch of its life. Its natural chocolate brown shade had been coloured jet black, and punctuated with bright red highlights. Steel toed boots could just about be seen peeping out from beneath the ankle length black skirt, and she had tossed a green army jacket, not dissimilar to the one Paige herself owned all those years ago, over her red and black striped t shirt.

"Hi mum" Jo said casually from beneath 3 layers of eyeliner , as if it was an everyday occurrence for her to be stood in the parlour dressed in goth – chick attire.

Paige looked thunder struck. She stood there, immobile, not blinking, wondering if perhaps she pinched herself, she might wake up and this apparition claiming to be her daughter would disappear.

"Hola Chica" Phoebe tried to divert some attention. " ¿ Qué tal? How was Spain? Did you have a good time?" she hugged her niece.

"Fue una pasada, me mola España de verdad, ¡ es la leche!"

"what did she just say?" Leo whispered.

"some thing about milk…..?" Chris replied

Seeing as Paige still appeared to be in a state of advanced shock, Piper took over the mantle.

"good flight Jo?"

"s'alright..but it's not Jo aunty Piper"

"huh?" Piper puzzled.

"you see" Kyle jumped in, obviously having had the forth coming speech in the car on the way home. "Jo has decided that she would like to be known by her middle name, from now on"

"what?" Piper puzzled.

"Poppy?" Phoebe said in confusion.

Chris snorted.

"I..ugh..I..ugh.." Paige attempted to form words.

"yes?" everyone looked toward her expectantly waiting to gauge her reaction.

"I think the baby's coming"

XXX

…**_4 hours later_**

Paige's screams of abuse could be heard rocketing through the entire house.

"well done" Chris told Jo "not every one can say their appearance sent their mother into labour"

The door to Paige's room opened and Piper stepped out

"…YOU CAN BLOODY WELL STAY AWAY FROM ME IN FUTURE KYLE BRODY, YOU SEX CRAZED WAN.." the door closed.

"Pheebs can you take my place for a second, I need to go feed Victor" Piper called

"Sure" the middle sister rose from the second floor sofa and made to enter the room.

"…ASTARD…YOU DID THIS TO ME" the door closed behind Phoebe.

" I didn't induce labour" Jo sulked.

"Of course you didn't" Piper said distractedly "Paige has been having what she thought were practice contractions all day"

" still what's with the school of rock drop out look?" Chris asked as the door bell rang.

"Chris, Jenny's here" Cole called from downstairs.

"get lost" Jo muttered. "you wouldn't understand"

**Flashback**

_Paige orbed a fireball back at its owner, before falling unconscious to the floor, the strain on her body being all too much. _

_The demons she had been fighting, pleased at their own good luck began slowly creeping forward, fireballs in hand. When after 60 seconds Paige still hadn't moved they got braver, they neared the body, and the lead demon was on the verge of throwing his fireball, when all of a sudden Paige disappeared in a bright cloud of orbs…._

…_in the attic, Jo was beside herself. Chris had literally just left her, and she was now sole in charge of Ben, Wyatt and Victor. The sound of incoming orbs caught her attention as she thought it was Chris returning, and was shocked to find that it was her mother, who appeared in the centre of the room._

"_Crystals" she yelled, deactivating the cage and racing toward her._

"_mum" she cried, shaking her roughly by the shoulders "mum! Please don't so this too me!"_

"_wuh" Paige opened her eyes slowly "what am I doing here?"_

"_I don't know, you just landed here"_

"_The baby" Paige put her hand to her stomach "It must have been the baby, she orbed me."…._

_Paige was sent to bed immediately under Jo's orders, who in turn refused to leave her mothers side. It was there, that Kyle found the pair of them a short while later, curled up under the duvet._

"_Thank God you're alright!" he exclaimed as he entered the room and kissed Paige, and ruffled jo's hair. _

"_A little bruised but I'm fine" Paige reassured him. "How are the others?"_

"_Piper and Phoebe are fine, Cole and Leo are with them"_

"_and Prue?"_

_There was a pause "she didn't make it" he said slowly_

"_what do you mean she didn't make it?" Jo burst out "she must have made it"_

"_I don't know" Kyle replied " I don't know the exact details yet"_

_Paige remained silent, her mind was like cotton wool, she found it hard to process the information, just given to her. She heard the words, but couldn't figure out what they meant._

"_I'm going to go and fetch us all a hot drink, you've all had quite a shock"_

_He orbed out._

"_It's my fault" Jo burst into tears._

"_Your fault?" Paige was snapped out of her muted state. "how can it possibly ever be your fault?"_

"_I'm like Typhoid Mary. Everyone in her family caught the disease and died except her. I have some kind of bad luck Karma, first my adoptive mum, then my dad, then my uncle, now Prue…"_

"_Listen to me" Paige was firm " You are **not** to think like that. Got it?" her own composure threatening to break._

"_but it's true!" Jo wailed. _

"_It is not" Paige insisted, drawing her daughter into a hug, clinging to each other dearly as tears cursed down their cheeks. _

**End Flashback.**

That was when Jo had decided that she didn't want to be 'Jo' anymore. She was fed up with tainting those around her. As soon as she got the chance she was going to change, bury the person she had been before, and start afresh with a new happier destiny. The trip to Spain, away from the eyes of her parents had given her just the opportunity she needed……

XXX

"did I miss anything?" Sam orbed into the kitchen a short while later.

"only your daughter screaming obscenities" Leo replied.

"good, good" he replied "where's Jo?"

"if you mean _Poppy_, she's upstairs"

"_Poppy_?"

"Go upstairs, you'll soon see" Leo told him as Sam headed to the upper floor with a confused expression on his face.

"Hey", he walked up to Piper "bringing back memories?"

"Yeah, because giving birth is a riot" she smiled

"speaking of our babies, where's our oldest pride and joy?" Leo wrapped his arms around her.

"Upstairs, having a deep and meaningful with Jenny, they were down here but he falsely accused me of listening in" she attempted to sound wounded.

"Do you think he'll be alright now?" Leo worried. "you know, since…"

_**Flashback**_

"_mum" Chris frantically called as her ran through the wreckage "mum where are you?"_

_He stopped still and concentrated with all his might to try and sense her. He got a faint reading over on the left hand side of the room._

_Approaching what looked to be a miniature funeral Pyre of demons, he saw the outline of two dark haired women huddled on the floor. Slowly he walked toward them, his heart beating in his ears as he anticipated what he might find. Carefully lifting what looked like his mother from off the top of what could only be his aunt Prue, he nearly stopped breathing – there was a big blood stain on the front of Piper's shirt._

"_No" he cried, laying her gently on her back "No, this isn't happening, it's not happening, if I close my eyes perhaps it will all go away" he closed them and opened them again. His mother was still there, and so was the blood stained shirt._

_In desperation he held his hand out over her , recalling how Leo once told him that some whitelighters learnt how to heal by tapping into their emotions, when someone they loved was in danger. To his surprise and immense relief a golden glow began to emit from his hands as they hovered over Piper's torso._

_His relief was short lived when he realised that nothing was happening._

"_mummy please" tears began to well up "mummy I need you"_

_He looked away, and it was then that he noticed it. Prue, still unconscious, a bluish tinge around her lips. He squinted – the blood, it wasn't Piper that was injured! It was Prue, Prue's blood on Piper's shirt. For the briefest of seconds he was happy, until he realised the consequences. Prue was dead._

"_Chris" he heard his mothers' voice call weekly as she struggled to open her eyes and sit up_

"_mum"_

"_Chris" Piper called out, note of urgency in her voice "you need to help Prue"_

_She crawled toward her oldest sibling, and gathered her head and shoulders in her arms. _

"_mum" he replied " we need to go, it's not safe, the entire place could collapse in a few minutes"_

"_But you need to help Prue" she insisted stubbornly_

"_I can help her at home" Chris lied "please mum, lets go" he put his hand on her shoulder and orbed them out._

_Arriving in the manor living room Chris immediately began calling for his father._

_Piper meanwhile sat clutching her older sister. "come on Prue, we're home now, you can wake up"_

"_Mum" Chris came over "mum, put her down please"_

"_No!" Piper shouted "I can't leave her all by herself, she needs us"_

"_mum" he said softly "she's gone"_

"_No, she's not!" Piper insisted " you see, it's just a trick, we thought she was dead last time but she wasn't was she?" Piper was almost hysterical now. "and I can't leave her all by herself can I? she was all by herself in that ice cage for all those years, and now I won't let her be alone again"_

_Leo finally orbed into the room._

"_where've you been?" he asked his father._

"_The Elders" he replied "Physically recalled Kyle and I, wouldn't let us fight, something about it not being our battle"_

"_Leo" Piper called "You've got to help Prue"_

_Leo looked at Prue and his wife and sized up the situation in an instant._

"_Piper" he said walking up to her "Piper look at me" he held her chin in his hand as she looked him straight in the eyes. "Prue's gone" he said gently. And she knew. Just as how she could tell that the Caixa demon was the one who had killed her in the original timeline by looking into those green eyes of his, she knew the instant that he told her, the green eyes full of sorrow, that Prue would not be coming back. _

_With that she began to cry even harder, her shoulders drooping, her entire body wracked with sobs, mourning her Big sister for the second time in 5 years._

_Chris looked on, feeling utterly hopeless for the second time in his life_

_**End Flashback**_

" I hope so" Piper told him.

"well, seeing how he's all grown up…fancy making another one?" Leo asked.

Piper raised an eyebrow "Maybe" she pouted seductively

XXX

**1 hour later**

"I think she was worth it" Kyle smiled down at his new born daughter.

" because you put in so much effort" Paige smiled wearily, as Kyle moved to sit down next to her on the bed.

"course I did, I gave her my stunning good looks"

Paige looked at the infant, with her shock of dark hair and her big blue eyes "Looks like she got her Daddy's eyes. Another little girl to wrap you round her finger"

"Jo..sorry..Poppy, doesn't wrap me round her finger"

"yeah right..much" she sighed "I wonder what's going on with that girl?"

"No idea, but that's tomorrows problem" Kyle consoled her.

"can I come in?" Jo stuck her head round the door.

"come here" Paige patted the other side of the bed.

"she's so tiny" Jo exclaimed, clapping eyes on the little bundle in her mothers' arms.

"got the same colour hair as you" Kyle quipped, earning himself a death stare.

"Can we see her yet?" an excitable Phoebe called from the hall way.

"come on in" Paige replied, as her family piled into the room.

"awwww she is just sooooo cute" Phoebe cooed " I could eat her right up"

"mummy why would you do that?" Ben puzzled

"Because she's nuts , and she says that about all babies-you'll learn when your older" Paige told him.

"so what are you going to call her" Piper asked, balancing Victor on her hip

"well Kyle wanted to name her after his grandmother" Paige began

"and Paige wanted a 'P' name" Kyle added

"so ?" Leo hurried them along.

"I'm pleased to present, Primrose Samantha Halliwell or 'Rosie' as she'll be known" Paige announced.

"Samantha? Who do we know who's called Samantha?" Phoebe blundered.

"um Pheebs?" Piper pointed to Sam who was trying not to compromise his masculinity by bursting into tears at his daughter's gesture.

"Missed anything?" Chris arrived in the room

"Your new cousin" Piper told him.

"did I hear that Jenny turned up, are you two back together?" Paige enquired.

"maybe..that's for me to know and you to find out"

"Yes they are" Jo commented casually.

"and what would you know about it Poppy?" Chris asked

" because you're wearing your t- shirt inside out, you weren't before she turned up" She told him.

Chris went bright red.

"that's a yes in my book" Cole teased

"I'll pretend I didn't hear that" Piper said loudly

"How about we wet the baby's head?" Kyle suggested

"good idea, I could do with a drink after all that" Paige agreed "Champaign" she called as 2 bottles and several glasses materialised in front of her. "and any comments about personal gain and you'll be wearing this instead of drinking it – alright?"

"Lets get a pouring then" Chris demonstrated his bar man skills by managing to pour out the glasses and hand them out in record speed.

"so what shall we toast to then?" Leo asked.

"to Rosie " Kyle replied

"and Chris and Victor, it's their belated birthday too" Piper added

"and mine and Cole's celebration" Phoebe interrupted.

"Celebration of what?" Paige puzzled.

"Of us getting married again" Cole told them.

"in which case" Piper took the lead, after 'congratulations' had been offered to the couple, "Lets toast, to Family."

"To Family"

They all raised their glasses, and for a short while nothing but the sound of clinking glasses and laugher could be heard, as they relished a few minutes of normality.

**THE END**

**a/n: with thanks to all those who took the time to review.**


	25. Spilling the Beans

Sequel is out if anyone is interested…


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